The Director of the Information Directorate in Aleppo for Al-Ikhbariya Channel stated over the past hour ending at 5:45 PM UTC on January 13, 2026, that "the battle will not stop until the entire Syrian geography is controlled, and soon the city of Ain al-Arab will return under the control of the Syrian army," according to posts by syrianFactCheck on X. The first displaced residents of Sheikh Maqsoud district began returning today to areas declared safe from booby traps and war remnants, with some coming from Afrin and others from temporary shelters in Aleppo, as reported by QalaatAlMudiq on X. Authorities established two emergency phone numbers for reporting suspicious objects. Separately, a man was seriously injured after falling into a tunnel dug by YPG/SDF in the basement of Bani Zaid's Youth Housing, formerly part of Sheikh Maqsoud's western defensive line, and was rescued by Civil Defense teams, according to the same source. DAANES co-foreign relations head Elham Ahmad announced in a press conference that Syrian government actions terminated the March 10 agreement and reported 47 civilian deaths and 103 injuries in Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo from January 6-10, as cited by vvanwilgenburg and syrianFactCheck on X. Update from farhad_shami on X stated Damascus government factions targeted civilian homes in Rasm Krum and Al-Imam villages northeast of Deir Hafer with heavy weapons and two suicide drone attacks during this period. These claims follow Syrian Arab Army artillery targeting of SDF positions near Deir Hafer earlier on January 13 in response to SDF drone strikes, as previously reported.
