About 15 4x4 vehicles, protected by armed and hooded men, sped through the streets of Achrafieh and Sheikh Maksoud. With a mixture of surprise and curiosity, residents watched the convoy pass. On April 16, the two predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of eastern Aleppo welcomed, for the first time since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on December 8, 2024, a joint delegation of representatives from the Syrian authorities and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), which is predominantly Kurdish, accompanied by their respective police forces, the General Security, and the Asayish (Kurdish security agents).

"Sheikh Maksoud is a neighborhood like any other now," proclaimed Hussein al-Salama, the emissary from Damascus, in front of cameras. He then got back into a vehicle to continue the visit with the other four members of the committee responsible for monitoring the agreement signed on March 10 by Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and the head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi. The two Aleppo neighborhoods are serving as a testing ground for the implementation of this plan, which aims to integrate AANES and SDF into the new Syrian govrernment by the end of the year.

Feelings are mixed among the 500,000 residents – mainly Kurds, as well as Christian and Muslim Arabs. They do not yet trust the authorities in Damascus. "Their forces are not unified under a single uniform or discipline. We saw that with the massacre of Alawites," explained Hussein Sheikh, a 42-year-old driver. "As long as we have our own forces to ensure our security, we are not afraid," added his father, Sheikh Rashid, a 73-year-old farmer. However, their trust in Abdi is unwavering. "If he asked us to go into the desert, we would. As long as France and the United States are with us, we are confident," explained Khalil Madjid, a 41-year-old worker.

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