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Sheikh Maqsood Şêx Meqsûd الشيخ مقصود
Neighborhood
Sheikh Maqsood in 2011
Sheikh MaqsoodShow map of AleppoSheikh MaqsoodShow map of Syria
Coordinates: 36°14′10″N 37°9′6″E / 36.23611°N 37.15167°E / 36.23611; 37.15167
Country	Syria
City	Aleppo
Control	Syrian Democratic Forces People's Defense Units Women's Protection Units Sheikh Maqsoud Liberation Forces Ashrafieh Liberation Forces
Population
• Total	30,000
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Sheikh Maqsood (Arabic: ٱلشَّيْخ مَقْصُود, romanized: aš-Šayḵ Maqṣūd, Kurdish: شێخ مەقسوود, romanized: Şêxmeqsûd, IPA: [aʃ.ʃajx maq.sˤuːd]), sometimes spelled al-Sheikh Maqsoud, Maqsud or Maksud, is a Kurdish-majority neighborhood in the city of Aleppo, Syria.

Syrian Civil War

During the Syrian Civil War, the Kurdish-majority People's Protection Units (YPG) took control of the neighborhood. Separated from the larger Kurdish regions of Syria, Sheikh Maqsood had been vulnerable to assaults by the Al-Nusra Front and other Islamist rebel groups which were besieging the district from all directions but the south and west until they were driven back by pro-government forces in 2016.

Islamist rebel groups frequently shelled Sheikh Maqsood. In May 2016, Amnesty International's regional director suggested that the attacks on Sheikh Maqsood constituted war crimes. Between February and April 2016, more than 83 civilians were killed by the attacks. In mid-June 2016, Russia accused the rebel militias of causing the death of over 40 civilians that month. A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spokesman accused rebels of causing 1,000 civilian deaths and injuries, through their shelling of Sheikh Maqsood.

A United Nations report from February 2017 came to the conclusion that, while during the siege of Eastern Aleppo the attacks against Sheikh Maqsoud decreased, Islamist rebel groups affiliated with Fatah Halab, after vowing to take revenge on the Kurds in Sheikh Maqsoud, intentionally attacked civilian neighborhoods of the Kurdish enclave – killing and maiming dozens of civilians – and that these acts constituted the war crime of directing attacks against a civilian population.

On 22 February 2018, it was reported that the YPG had agreed to hand over the eastern districts of the city of Aleppo to the Syrian government. According to Syrian state television, this decision was made to reinforce positions around the region of Afrin, and to halt Turkey's offensive. This came days after pro-Syrian government fighters agreed to bolster the Kurdish forces in the northwest.

SOHR and a witness later said that Syrian government forces had entered the areas controlled by the Kurdish fighters. YPG spokesman Nouri Mahmoud however denied this claim. A YPG commander later stated that Kurdish fighters had shifted to Afrin to help repel a Turkish assault. As a result, he said the pro-Syrian government forces had regained control of the districts previously controlled by them.

In February 2023, the neighborhood was affected by an earthquake.

References

1. "YPJ: We will hold the Turkish state and its mercenaries accountable on the frontlines of resistance". Firat News Agency. 2 December 2024. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
2. ^ "Syria: armed opposition group committing war crimes in Aleppo - new evidence". Amnesty International. 13 May 2016.
3. Aleppo - Governance, Caerus Associates on First Mile Geo
4. Mapping the conflict in Aleppo, Syria Archived 1 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Caerus Associates with support from the American Security Project, February 2014
5. "Conflict within a conflict: Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsoud". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
6. "Reuters | Breaking International News & Views". Reuters. 23 June 2023.
7. Nisman, Daniel (8 April 2013). "Have Syria's Kurds Had a Change of Heart?". Huffington Post. Retrieved 10 November 2015. Reports indicate that YPG militiamen and Syrian rebels have agreed to share control of the strategic Sheikh Maqsood District of northern Aleppo
8. "Syria: nearly half rebel fighters are jihadists or hardline Islamists, says IHS Jane's report". The Telegraph. 15 September 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
9. "Guide to the Syrian rebels". BBC. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
10. "Syrian Islamist rebels renew chemical attack on Kurdish district in Aleppo". Ara News. 14 March 2016. Archived from the original on 16 May 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
11. "Syrian rebels massacre Kurdish civilians in Aleppo". Ara News. 6 April 2016. Archived from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
12. "Rebels strike Kurdish neighborhood in Aleppo with chemical gas". Al-Masdar News. 7 April 2016. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
13. "About 65 casualties and injuries in shelling and launching explosive cylinders on Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood". SOHR. 16 April 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
14. "Russia shows support to Kurdish-led SDF north Syria". ARA News. 14 June 2016. Archived from the original on 14 June 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
15. "Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic" (PDF). United Nations. 2 February 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
16. "UN says Syrian rebel shelling of Kurds 'a war crime'". ARA News. 2 March 2017. Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
17. "Kurdish Militia YPG to Hand Over Syrian Army Neighborhoods in Aleppo". prensa-latina.cu (in European Spanish). Retrieved 22 February 2018.
18. "Syrian pro-government forces enter Afrin". BBC News. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
19. "Syrian Kurdish YPG Denies Government Entered Kurdish-Held Aleppo District". U.S. News & World Report. Reuters. 22 February 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
20. "Syrian YPG militia: government has taken control of Aleppo district". Reuters. 22 February 2018.
21. "Cold, fear and grief pervade Aleppo shelters as aid lags". New Arab. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2023.

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