"Residents of the city of Deir Hafer in the Aleppo countryside continued to leave the area after it was declared a 'closed military zone' by the Syrian transitional government. Footage on Friday shows families carrying their belongings on vehicles in Hammimat al-Kubra, along with the presence of White Helmets civil defence personnel and vehicles along the road. "We came out from the Mabouja Road and endured hardships until we reached here. I pray to God to protect the young people who stayed there. I hope those who remain can get out, because the situation inside is very bad," claimed Abdul Wahab Ibrahim Al-Hamad. Syrian media reported on Friday that more than 4,000 civilians had left Deir Hafer and Maskanah. The transitional government accused the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of preventing civilians from leaving the area through a humanitarian corridor it established in the village of Hammimat. It was a claim denied by the SDF, which said that the “disruption of civilian movement in the area is the result of military escalation, mobilisation, and continuous shelling carried out by Damascus factions.” Last Tuesday, the transitional government declared the area from Deir Hafer to Maskanah in the Aleppo countryside a “closed military zone,” calling on residents to leave and saying the move was aimed at “preventing armed groups massing in the military zone from using it as a launch point for their criminal operations.” Meanwhile, the SDF described that as “misleading,” saying that there were “no military movements or buildups by our forces in the mentioned areas,” and accusing the transitional government of “attempting to provoke tensions and create pretexts for escalation.” Deadly clashes that took place between the two sides last week in the Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhoods, which ended with the withdrawal of SDF forces. Syrian transitional president Ahmad al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi signed an agreement on March 10 stipulating the “integration of all civilian and military institutions affiliated with the Autonomous Administration into the framework of the Syrian state” by the end of 2025. However, the agreement has not yet been implemented."