Please give me feedback on my action plan to stop my boys fighting!

[Snowisfallinghere]

I have two boys, 6 and 3, they're turning 7 and 4 this month.

Over the past year, they've gone from barely any fighting to constant fighting. The youngest in particular is becoming increasingly aggressive. Sometimes he will literally just approach his brother and kick him for no reason, and if I tell him off for anything he tries to hit and kick me too. Other times, they start off playing nicely but the game becomes rough, especially if they're pretending to be knights, police, baddies etc. The afternoons are the worst, when they both start to become tired and grumpy!

So far I've just been telling them off here and there but it's just become chaotic and stressful, I think I need to form a proper plan in my mind and be consistent with it, and basically have a zero tolerance policy. So far I'm thinking this as a plan and I've just started with these ideas today:

• If anyone fights over a toy it will immediately be confiscated, no second chances.
• If play becomes rough or they start physically fighting for any reason, they have to be separated for a while until things calm down. (Older one in his room which he's usually okay with, younger one in my room with me) Should I do a set number of minutes? The trouble is I have to physically pick up my 3 year old and take him away, this does make him even more angry and he starts to hit me.
• My older son thankfully doesn't hit me, but if younger one does, if he hits me I will physically restrain him until he stops trying to hit me, afterwards we can have a cuddle. It feels kind of barbaric doing this, basically having to pin his arms and legs down on my bed, although I do try to do it carefully and not hurt him, he finds it very distressing, it also seems to escalate his anger, but what's the alternative?

I always wanted to go for the whole gentle/positive parenting approach but it's very difficult when there's physical aggression involved. Any other ideas to try or anything I'm getting wrong with the above approach?

The afternoons are the worst, when they both start to become tired and grumpy!
You know this, so pre-empt it. Quiet time, tv time etc

What's their general screen usage like?

Are they allowed to do anything physical? We had a cushion to hit. It was the only thing that DS was allowed to hit. Zero tolerance for hitting or throwing anything else.

Separate might be easier to keep them in the same room. One at one end, one at other facing away from each other.

And yes, set a time limit. Usually the advice is same number of minutes as years. But if it was both DC who were in time out I did both the same (5). I also found setting an alarm was more helpful because I could then say they had to sit until it beeps which they found easier to understand than just me telling them time was up. I could also visually re-set it if they got out of their spot too soon...

@WhatAmIWorth We try to keep screen time low, some days it's nothing at all, some days it's half an hour of TV, during school holidays on rainy days it might end up being a film AND an hour or so of TV. They don't really use tablets, I have a really old one that my older one uses for learning apps occasionally, but not daily. I don't mind them watching some CBeebies in the afternoon when it's I'm trying to make dinner and they're getting tired and cranky.

I don't normally like the idea of time-out as a punishment but in this context it's more of a cool down time/a break from eachother so I feel like it makes sense.

I did a 5 minute timer today but when it beeped, my 3 year old was still tantrumming on my bed about it, so we had to wait even longer. The sweet thing was that his big brother did then come into my room and tried to cheer his angry little brother up. He gave him a squishy toy to squeeze. They do have their cute moments among the chaos.