ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - In the early hours of Friday morning, a Kurdish pharmacist and his uncle were found deliberately killed inside their family-run hospital in Aleppo’s predominantly Kurdish Ashrafiyah neighborhood, relatives told Rudaw.
The two men, civilians who had chosen to remain at their workplace despite intensifying violence, were gunned down after the hospital was shelled by tanks. The attack was carried out by armed factions affiliated with the Damascus government, according to family members.
Ali Osman, 37, and his uncle Adnan Osman, 58, were originally from Afrin. They were killed inside Osman Hospital, a private medical facility built and managed by the Osman family. Adnan oversaw the hospital’s administration, while Ali worked there as a pharmacist.
“Their bodies are now at the morgue,” said Mohammad Osman, Adnan’s brother, speaking to Rudaw from Denmark. “In a few hours, they will be taken back to our village in Afrin for burial.”
Mohammad said the killing came shortly after the hospital was struck by tank fire. Despite the presence of other doctors and Arab medical staff inside the facility at the time, only the two Kurdish men were targeted.
“There were other physicians and health workers there. They were left unharmed,” he said. “After killing my brother and nephew, the attackers stole money and personal belongings from the hospital.”
His voice faltered as he reflected on the family’s years of service to the community.
“We served Arabs more than we served Kurds,” he said bitterly. “And this is the reward we receive.”
He said the militants brutally struck his brother and nephew in the face with the butts of their firearms before killing them.
Adnan Osman leaves behind five children - two sons and three daughters - while Ali Osman is survived by two young sons.
Tensions have escalated in Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafiyah, where clashes have erupted between the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its affiliated factions on one side, and Kurdish Internal Security Forces (Asayish), linked to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), on the other.
Waleed Khoja, Adnan’s cousin, told Rudaw from Erbil that the two men had made a conscious decision to stay behind at the hospital to ensure medical services would continue despite the fighting.
“They were killed because of their identity,” Khoja said. “This was deliberate. It was a clear and blatant massacre.”
Khoja recounted his last contact with Ali Osman. “At around 9 pm [on Thursday], Ali called me and said they [armed factions] had entered the hospital,” he said. “Later, we were told they had been arrested. When we called again, the militants said, ‘God willing, nothing will happen. There is no problem. They will be released.’”
Hours later, the truth emerged. “Around 2 or 3 in the morning, a neighbor went inside the hospital to see who was alive and who was dead,” Khoja said. “He found that Adnan had been shot in the chest. They were both killed together.”
Khoja stressed that neither man had any political affiliation.
“They were civilians. They had nothing to do with parties or politics,” he said. “When Ashrafiyah was bombed, they could have left. But they stayed to guard the hospital. They said, ‘Let’s protect it.’”
Osman Hospital was built in 2010 by five brothers, all physicians who had earned advanced medical degrees abroad. It officially opened its doors in 2013 and grew into a seven-story medical facility employing more than 50 residents from the Ashrafiyah neighborhood. Licensed and fully operational, the hospital provided a wide range of services, including surgeries and childbirth, and continued to operate even during earlier phases of Syria’s conflict.
Now, it has been rendered inoperable.
“Because the hospital is tall and located at the entrance of the neighborhood, it has suffered massive structural damage,” Khoja said. “This is not the first time it has been targeted.”
Local officials say at least 20 people have been killed and 75 others wounded in Aleppo over the past four days.
Ceasefire amid ongoing fighting
In response to the violence, Syria’s Defense Ministry announced a ceasefire early Friday in northern Aleppo, calling on Kurdish forces—described by Damascus as “armed groups”—to withdraw from the area by a set deadline.
The United States welcomed the temporary truce, according to US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack.
However, the general council of Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafiyah, which is affiliated with the Kurdish administration in northeastern Syria (Rojava), rejected the government’s demands. In an urgent statement issued Friday afternoon, the council emphasized that residents would not surrender their neighborhoods.
“The calls directed by the Damascus government forces to our people and our security forces are calls for surrender,” the statement said. “Our people in these neighborhoods are determined to stay and defend them.”