At least two civilians killed in Aleppo violence as Syrian government, SDF trade blame

Dec 22 (Reuters) - At least two civilians were killed and several wounded in a wave of attacks in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Monday, with government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces trading blame for the deaths.

The Syrian health ministry said two people were killed and several were wounded in shelling by the SDF on residential neighbourhoods in the city. The injuries included two children and two civil defense workers.

Hours earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said during a visit to Damascus that the SDF appeared to have no intention of honouring a commitment to integrate into the state's armed forces by an agreed year-end deadline.

Turkey views the U.S.-backed SDF, which controls swathes of northeastern Syria, as a terrorist organisation and has warned of military action if the group does not honour the agreement.

"We're hearing the sounds of artillery and mortar shells, and there is a heavy army presence in most areas of Aleppo," an eyewitness in Aleppo told Reuters. Another eyewitness said the sound of strikes were very strong, and described the situation as "terrifying".

Mohamed Abdel Ghany, the head of internal security in Aleppo, said that forces were working on evacuating and ensuring the safety of civilians in neighborhoods under attack.

Syrian state news agency SANA, citing the defence ministry, reported earlier that the SDF had launched a sudden attack on security forces and the army in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyah neighbourhoods of Aleppo, resulting in injuries.

The SDF denied this and said the attack was carried out by factions affiliated with the Syrian government. It said those factions were using tanks and artillery against residential neighborhoods in the city.

The defence ministry denied the SDF's statements, saying the army was responding to sources of fire from Kurdish forces.

(Reporting by Menna Alaa El-Din and Jaidaa Taha and Kinda Makieh; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Nia Williams)