DAMASCUS, Oct 7, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - At least one member of Syria's domestic security forces and a civilian were killed Monday in bombardments in the northern city of Aleppo attributed to Kurdish forces, Syrian state television reported.

Tensions have heightened between Damascus and the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration in north and northeast Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based watchdog, separately said Syrian government forces used explosive drones in two Aleppo neighbourhoods with Kurdish majority residents, Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh.

It said communications in those districts had been cut and they were surrounded by Syrian army reinforcements.

Since the toppling of former leader Bashar al-Assad in December last year, Aleppo has been ruled by Syria's new Islamist authorities.

Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh however remain controlled by Kurdish units linked to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the de facto army of the Kurdish administration.

According to the Syrian News Channel, citing a security official, "a member of the domestic security forces was killed and three others wounded in an SDF attack near the Sheikh Maqsoud district in Aleppo."

It also reported that a civilian was killed in a Kurdish bombardment.

It said "dozens of families" had fled Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh because of heavy machine-gun and mortar barrages by the SDF in that area.

Syria's SANA news agency said several wounded civilians had been taken to hospital.

Aleppo's governor, Azzam al-Gharib, on Facebook called on the city's inhabitants to stay indoors and as far away as possible from "the zones with clashes". He called on all parties involved to de-escalate the situation.

The SDF denied attacking government security forces and accused pro-Damascus factions of mounting a siege of Kurdish neighbourhoods in Aleppo, and trying to push forward "with tanks".

It said that residents had taken up weapons to help the Assayech, the Kurds' domestic security forces, to defend the districts.