Labour slammed for cosying up to 'terrorist' regime in Syria after violence erupts

Fires burn in Aleppo during the fighting over the past week (Image: Supplied )

Dame Priti Patel has slammed Labour for cosying up to a government of "terrorists" in Syria after violence erupted sparking fears of "ethnic cleansing". Clashes broke out in the Syrian city of Aleppo since militias connected to the Syrian regime in Damascus stormed the largely ethnic Kurdish civilian neighbourhoods on January 6.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Defence Force (SDF), which has been a long-time ally of British forces during the war against Isis in the region, said at least 18 people, including two children, had been killed and more than 60 injured after the government troops stormed the Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafieh and Al-Suryan areas of the northern city. More than 100,000 people are reported to have fled the fighting.

It's not the first time forces of the newly formed so-called Syrian Arab Republic, led by former Al-Qaeda jihadi-turned president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, have been embroiled in clashes with non-Arab ethnic minorities. The ruling party HTS, which seized power in December 2024, has been accused of massacres against the Alwaite, Christian and Druze communities. Worrying evidence has also emerged of fighters aligned to Damascus wearing Isis symbols and bearing jihadi banners connected to the death cult.

A tenuous ceasefire was agreed overnight (January 10) after the US Special Envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, met with the government on Saturday. The bloodshed and violence would have been embarrassing for London and Washington who have sought to normalise relations with Syria. HTS were removed from the UK list of proscribed terrorist groups last year, and British Middle East minister Hamish Falconer met with his Syrian counterparts at a much-trumpeted re-opening of the Syrian Embassy in London in November.

Former Foreign Secretary David Lammy became the first minister in the role to visit Damascus in 14 years during a trip last July. He said at the time: "It's important that the UK lean in to ensure... inclusivity for all of the communities that make up this country, a prosperous one and a peaceful one."

Dame Priti Patel MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary, told the Daily Express: “The attacks on Kurdish areas of Aleppo are deeply concerning. Our SDF allies see this as another potential ethnic cleansing, yet Labour and the FCDO’s earlier praise for the new Syrian regime now looks completely misjudged.

Government tanks enter Aleppo on January 6 (Image: Supplied )

“HTS has deep links to al-Qaeda and was proscribed for a reason as it poses a serious terrorist threat. Labour’s decision to de-proscribe must be backed by overwhelming evidence, not politics, especially given HTS’s appalling record on protecting minorities in Syria.

“With our allies under threat and tensions rising, Labour must urgently explain the evidence for this decision and how it protects both security and vulnerable communities.”

Speaking in the White House, where he had welcomed the Syrian leader Al-Sharaa in November, President Donald Trump said on Friday that he wanted to "see peace" and an end to the fighting. He added: "The Kurds and the Syrian government, we get along with both, as you know very well. They have been natural enemies over the years, but we get along with both."

Suspected Turkish drones and artillery were used the fighting, and there were street battles between government forces and locals who took up arms to repel the attack. The Daily Express was sent images from inside a hospital in the Kurdish area of Aleppo where casualties can be seen on stretchers and children and families are sheltering in stairwells.

In shocking footage, we have chosen not to share, a Kurdish woman who had taken up arms to defend her community is killed by government forces. Her body is then callously thrown from the second floor of a building while militia soldiers shout "Allahu Akbar", an Arabic phrase meaning "God is greatest". 

Coordination and intelligence with SDF forces, who run the mostly autonomous north east region of Syria, known as Rojava, will most likely have helped British and French air strikes on Isis targets just days ago and the US CENTCOM Middle East military branch still supports Kurdish forces running detention camps which hold former Islamic State prisoners, including Shamima Begum.

Both Al-Sharaa and the SDF leader Mazloum Abdi previously signed the US-backed March 10 agreement in 2025, which laid out a ceasefire between the two sides and called for eventual integration of the SDF Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous-Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) into the new Syrian government. The leadership of the two factions met again for talks on January 4.

Dame Priti Patel slammed Labour for cosying up to the new Syria regime (Image: PA )

In a statement regarding the latest ceasefire, a spokesperson for the SDF said: "Through international mediation to halt the attacks and violations against our people in Aleppo, we have reached an understanding leading to a ceasefire and the safe evacuation of martyrs, the wounded, trapped civilians, and fighters from the Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhoods to northern and eastern Syria.

"We call upon the mediators to uphold their commitments to stop the violations and work towards the safe return of the displaced to their homes. To the resistance fighters of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, their martyrs, their comrades, their families, and the civilians who stood firm, we offer our deepest respect and admiration.

"We extend our condolences to ourselves, as well as to the families of the martyrs and our people, and we pray for the speedy recovery of the wounded."

In a statement posted on X, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the military action in Aleppo had been a "targeted law-enforcement operation", adding that the fighting "does not entail any demographic change, and does target any population group on ethnic or religious grounds".

Reacting to the ceasefire agreement, the statement went on to thank the United States, United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia for an "active and constructive role in supporting Syria's stability".

In a statement given to the Daily Express yesterday the UK Foreign Office said it had been "deeply concerned by the clashes in northern Aleppo, and the civilian casualties and displacement they have caused".

It added: "We welcome the temporary ceasefire and strongly encourage its extension. A sustainable ceasefire is essential for stability and to ease the suffering of civilians caught up in the violence.

"We continue to engage with the Syrian Government and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as well as regional and international partners.”