Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafiyeh Council: Surrender, massacres imposed on us, but we to resist

The Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh Neighborhood Council in Aleppo issued a written statement to the public opinion on Friday regarding the attacks on the besieged neighborhoods, condemning the position of the Interim Government and the silence of international powers in the face of the massacres. The statement included,

"Beginning on January 6th, our neighborhoods have been subjected to attacks with heavy weapons and intense shelling.

During these attacks, mosques, schools, hospitals, civilian homes, and service institutions have been directly targeted.

Our people and our Internal Security Forces are putting up fierce resistance against these attacks.

These attacks aim to commit massacres against our people, who have lived in these neighborhoods for hundreds of years and are the original inhabitants, and to launch a new wave of forced displacement; that is, to try to change the demographics of the city and our neighborhoods. These attacks, in all their forms, blatantly undermine and violate the April 1st Agreement.

The Damascus Interim Government is carrying out these attacks under the name of the "New Syrian Army," with the support of the Turkish state and its affiliated mercenaries. We strongly condemn the silence of the international powers that were present as guarantors and monitors of the March 10th and April 1st Agreements.

The attack and the threat of a massacre against our people in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods are still ongoing.

The call issued by the forces of the Damascus Interim Government to our people and our security forces is a call for surrender. However, our people in these neighborhoods are determined to remain in their neighborhoods and defend them.

In the current situation, massacres are being perpetrated against civilians in the areas that the factions have advanced into. In other words, the same practices and massacres committed against the Alawites and Druze are now being attempted to be carried out in our neighborhoods.

Everyone knows that hundreds of thousands of civilians reside in these neighborhoods, and the intense shelling has resulted in dozens of injuries, most of them women and children. Our hospital in the neighborhood, the Khaled Fajr Hospital, which already had limited resources, has been subjected to attacks and heavy bombardment. This constitutes a war crime. The hospital is now completely out of service, and there is no longer any possibility of treating the wounded within our neighborhoods. There is a serious humanitarian crisis. As the public opinion knows, our neighborhoods have been under siege since a long time, and the entry of humanitarian aid has been prevented. The winter conditions are exacerbating the already dire situation.

As a result, the Interim Government Forces, along with their mercenaries, are demanding the surrender of our neighborhoods and attempting to expel the residents. They are also demanding the surrender of the Asayish Forces.

We reject the pressures imposed on our people and our neighborhoods. Due to the policies of the Damascus government since it came to power, and its actions against the diverse communities of Syria, particularly the indiscriminate shelling and massacres perpetrated against our people in recent days, we cannot entrust our security and our neighborhoods to them. Therefore, we cannot back down from protecting our neighborhoods. We have decided to remain in our neighborhoods and defend them.

Finally, we call on our people in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh to go to Khaled Fajr Hospital to assist our wounded and to mobilize in order to protect our neighborhoods.

With greetings and respect,

The People's Council of the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh Neighborhoods."

ANHA