ALEPPO, Syria Jan 10 - Dozens of Kurdish fighters left Syria's second city on Saturday, security sources told Reuters, and the army said it was still working to clear a remaining group of hardened fighters after a ceasefire failed to end days of deadly clashes.

The violence in Aleppo has deepened one of the main faultlines in Syria, where President Ahmed al-Sharaa's promise to unify the country under one leadership after 14 years of war has faced resistance from Kurdish forces wary of his Islamist-led government.

The U.S. and other world powers welcomed a ceasefire earlier in the week, but Kurdish forces refused to leave the last stronghold of Sheikh Maksoud under the deal. Syria's army said it would conduct a ground operation to clear them and combed through the neighbourhood on Saturday. 

Reuters reporters then saw dozens of men, women and children streaming out of the neighbourhood on foot. Syrian troops put them onto buses and said they would be taken to displacement shelters. More than 140,000 people have already been displaced by the fighting this week.

Later, the Reuters reporters saw more than 100 men shuffling out of the neighbourhood on foot, accompanied by security forces. The men were dressed in civilian clothes and were put on six buses. Syrian security officials at the scene identified them as members of the Kurdish internal security forces, known as the Asayish, and said they had surrendered. There was no comment from the Asayish or other Kurdish officials on the matter.  

ACCUSATIONS OVER VIOLATIONS

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said on Saturday that he had met with Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi in Amman to consolidate a ceasefire and ensure the Kurdish forces' "peaceful withdrawal from Aleppo".

Earlier on Saturday, three Syrian security sources told Reuters that a batch of Kurdish fighters including some of their commanders and their families were secretly ferried out of Aleppo overnight to the country's northeast.

Ilham Ahmad, who heads the Kurdish administration's foreign relations department, had overnight wel...