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Shelling of Aleppo neighborhood threatens to stir up Arab-Kurdish strife

The armed Syrian opposition's ongoing shelling on the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maksoud neighborhood of Aleppo risks potential strife between Sunni Arabs and Kurds.
A Nusra Front fighter walks with his weapon inside a building in the Sheikh Maksoud neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria  August 3, 2015. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail - RTX242Y9

Since February, the Syrian armed opposition has been shelling Aleppo’s Kurdish Sheikh Maksoud neighborhood, where the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and about 25 armed opposition factions have been fighting.

The opposition is using locally made improvised weapons — such as the Hell cannon, Hamim missiles and mortars, in addition to other heavy weapons — against civilians. Shelling the neighborhood, where nearly 40,000 people reside, is a violation of the Syrian truce reached after the UN Security Council unanimously voted in favor of a cease-fire. Nidal Hannan, a journalist residing in the neighborhood, told Al-Monitor that April 5 was one of the deadliest days, as “the shelling resulted in the death of dozens of civilians.”

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