The third day of intense urban warfare in Aleppo, marked by civilian evacuations and exchanges of artillery fire, has laid bare the catastrophic failure of American foreign policy in Syria. As Syrian government forces clash with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, the devastating human toll exposes the cruel consequences of Washington's contradictory and ultimately self-serving strategy: arming a proxy force while offering it no viable political future, then watching as it is crushed.
The fighting, described as the most intense since the fall of the Assad regime, has exacted a severe price from Aleppo's civilians. Initial estimates from the United Nations report at least five civilian deaths, but local authorities indicate the toll is significantly higher, with reports of at least eight civilians killed in Kurdish neighborhoods and additional deaths in government-held areas. The violence has triggered a massive displacement crisis. While UN agencies initially estimated 30,000 displaced, the directorate of social affairs in Aleppo reports the staggering figure has now surpassed 140,000 people. Critical infrastructure has been devastated, with at least three major hospitals forced to cease operations and flights at Aleppo International Airport suspended.
This bloodshed stems directly from the collapse of political agreements that the United States helped broker but failed to underwrite. A March 2025 deal for the SDF to integrate into the Syrian army has completely stalled, with a meeting mediated by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack as recently as last Sunday ending without progress. The SDF, a U.S.-backed alliance that was Washington's primary ground partner in the fight against ISIS, now finds itself isolated, caught between a Damascus government intent on reasserting control and a hostile Turkey. This deadlock is not an accident but a predictable outcome of American policy, which empowered the SDF militarily without securing its political survival, leaving it as a target for all sides.
As the fighting intensifies, so do accusations of grave violations. The Syrian government ordered civilians to evacuate specific neighborhoods, releasing maps of areas to be targeted before commencing shelling. The SDF has denounced these warnings as a pretext for forced displacement and potential war crimes, accusing government forces of directly shelling a hospital and residential areas. These actions have prompted a severe warning from the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, who stated that targeting civilians to alter the area's demography amounts to ethnic cleansing.
A coalition of Syrian civil society organizations has issued a joint statement condemning the escalation as a clear violation of a prior April 2025 agreement designed to protect civilians in these very neighborhoods. They warn that the violence risks triggering new cycles of identity-based attacks and call for an immediate ceasefire and a return to inclusive political talks, a process that American diplomacy has conspicuously failed to deliver. The United Nations has echoed these calls for de-escalation and the protection of civilians, but its appeals ring hollow against the backdrop of great power abandonment.
The vacuum left by America's incoherent strategy is being filled by regional actors with their own agendas, further complicating the conflict. Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States, considers the SDF a terrorist organization linked to the PKK. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has labeled the SDF the "greatest obstacle to peace in Syria," and Turkey's defense ministry has openly offered military support to the Syrian government upon request. This alignment highlights a stark contradiction: a U.S. ally is poised to assist in the military campaign against a former U.S. proxy, demonstrating the complete collapse of Washington's strategic footing.