Sheikh Maqsood
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Sheikh Maqsood الشيخ مقصود |
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|---|---|
| Neighborhood | |
Sheikh Maqsood in 2011
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 Sheikh Maqsood
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| Coordinates: 36°14′10″N 37°9′6″E / 36.23611°N 37.15167°E | |
| Country |
 Syria
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| City | Aleppo |
| Population (May 2016) | |
| • Total | 30,000 |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
Sheikh Maqsood (Arabic: الشيخ مقصود, Kurdish: Şêxmeqsûd), sometimes spelled al-Sheikh Maqsoud, Maqsud or Maksud, is a neighborhood in the city of Aleppo, Syria. It is mainly populated by Kurds.
During the Syrian Civil War, Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia took control of the neighbourhood. Far away from the Kurdish inhabited enclaves, Sheikh Maqsood has been very vulnerable to assaults by the Al-Nusra Front and other Islamist rebel groups which were besieging the district from all directions but the south and west until they were driven back by pro-government forces during June and November 2016.
Islamist rebel groups have multiple times shelled Sheikh Maqsood, causing destruction of property and injury and death of civilians. In May 2016, Amnesty International's regional director suggested that the attacks on Sheikh Maqsood constitute "war crimes". Between February and April 2016 more than 83 civilians were killed by the attacks. In mid-June 2016 the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (of which the YPG are a component) and Russia accused the rebel militias of causing the death of over 40 civilians in the month, and an accumulated 1,000 civilian deaths, through indiscriminate shelling of Sheikh Maqsood.
A United Nations report from February 2017 came to the conclusion that, while during the siege of Eastern Aleppo the attacks against Sheikh Maqsoud decreased, islamist rebel groups affiliated with Fatah Halab, after vowing to take revenge on the Kurds in Sheikh Maqsoud, intentionally attacked civilian inhabited neighbourhoods of the Kurdish enclave, killing and maiming dozens of civilians, and that these acts constitute the war crime of directing attacks against a civilian population.
Battle of Aleppo (2012–present)
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