Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has issued a decree confirming the rights of Syrian Kurds, officially recognizing their language and restoring their citizenship, SANA news agency reported.
Al-Sharaa's decree comes after fierce clashes that erupted last week in the city of Aleppo, with the Syrian Ministry of Health saying at least 23 people were killed in the fighting and over 150,000 were forced to flee the city's two Kurdish neighborhoods.
Earlier, the Syrian army declared the area east of Aleppo a "closed military zone" and called on "all armed groups to withdraw east of the Euphrates River", which runs through northern Syria.