SHOTLIST:

ALEPPO, SYRIA (JAN. 9, 2026) (ANADOLU — ACCESS ALL)

1. VARIOUS DRONE SHOTS OF REOPENED CASTELLO ROAD ALEPPO, SYRIA — JAN. 9, 2026: Castello Road, a key artery connecting several neighborhoods in Aleppo, was reopened on Friday, Jan. 9, after Syrian forces established control in the area.

The road was closed in August by SDF, disrupting traffic and the flow of supplies between neighborhoods.

SDF elements will be transferred from Aleppo neighborhoods to areas east of the Euphrates, Syria's Defense Ministry said on Friday, as a temporary ceasefire expired after six hours.

The move comes as the deadline set by Damascus for the SDF to withdraw from Aleppo expired earlier Friday. Authorities said the group failed to fully comply with withdrawal terms, prompting warnings from the ministry that targeted operations would continue if the transfer was not completed.

Clashes that intensified Thursday night and continued intermittently until 3 am in Ashrafiyah and Bani Zaid, at times escalating along the lines of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, stopped following the ministry’s announcement.

“Armed individuals will only be allowed to carry light personal weapons. Their safe passage will be ensured by the Syrian army, allowing them to exit toward the country’s northeastern regions,” the ministry had said.

Syrian forces are expected to continue targeted operations if the group failed to leave Aleppo.

- Operations in Aleppo

The PKK/YPG terror group operating under the name SDF has carried out attacks on multiple locations in Aleppo from areas it has occupied since Jan. 6, according to Syrian officials.

Damascus had called on the group to comply with the March 10 agreement and to halt its attacks.

As the assaults continued, the Syrian army launched targeted operations against the group’s positions in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyah neighborhoods, which were under its occupation.

On March 10, 2025, the Syrian presidency announced the signing of an agreement for the SDF’s integration into state institutions, reaffirming the country's territorial unity and rejecting any attempts at division.

But in the months since, authorities say, the SDF has not shown any efforts to meet the terms of the agreement.

The government has intensified efforts to maintain security across the country since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on Dec. 8, 2024, after 24 years in power.

Since Jan. 6, at least nine Syrians have been killed and 55 people – most of them civilians – have been wounded in attacks carried out by the group.

The Aleppo City Center Committee earlier said 142,000 people had been evacuated to safe areas within the city.