Afrin’s displaced torn between another exile and danger in northern Aleppo

HASAKAH — As part of a slow procession of families reeling from the bitterness and pain of a new displacement, Salwa Omar (a pseudonym), 31, arrived in the western Raqqa city of Tabqa on Monday evening. Her convoy’s journey from al-Shahbaa, an area of northern Aleppo captured by Turkish-backed opposition factions earlier that day, took 10 hours.  

On Monday, Ankara-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) factions seized control of both al-Shahbaa and villages in the Sherawa area of the Afrin countryside after the Syrian regime and Kurdish Afrin Liberation Forces withdrew. The Afrin Liberation Forces are made up of fighters previously affiliated with the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Afrin until the SNA took control during the Turkish-backed Operation Olive Branch in 2018. 

Over the weekend, as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other opposition factions based in Idlib continued military operations in Aleppo, Idlib and Hama provinces within their surprise offensive launched on November 27, the SNA launched its own operation on December 1. 

The SNA’s operation, “Dawn of Freedom,” took aim at areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and other Kurdish forces in the northern Aleppo countryside—including al-Shahbaa, which hosted thousands of people displaced from Afrin in 2018.

The following day, opposition factions and the SDF reportedly came to an agreement providing for the withdrawal of Kurdish forces from al-Shahbaa and other parts of Aleppo for northeastern Syria. 

The operation began immediately, with three batches of evacuees—natives of al-Shahbaa and Sherawa, displaced people from Afrin and Kurdish fighters—leaving for Tabqa and Raqqa city. “There are no precise figures for the number of people displaced” so far, Malak al-Hussein, co-chair of the Executive Council of Afrin and al-Shahbaa Canton, told Syria Direct. 

Speaking via WhatsApp while on the road from al-Shahbaa to Tabqa on Monday, Omar, who lived with her family of five in the village of al-Ahdath since being displaced from Afrin six years ago, explained why they left. 

“There were instructions from the Autonomous Administration [AANES] about the need to leave the area,” Omar said. Her family had heard sounds of “violent” shelling, and “one shell fell in the neighborhood,” she added. They also feared that her brother, an SDF fighter, would be arrested. 

Before this week’s displacement, around 25,000 families—130,000 people—lived in al-Shahbaa, including 4,000 families displaced from Afrin, according to figures the Executive Council provided to Syria Direct. 

‘Weak response’

It was cold as the displaced finally reached SDF-held Raqqa and Tabqa. Pictures and videos posted to social media show many sleeping on the ground in Tabqa, wrapping themselves in thin blankets as children stand barefoot in the wintry weather. Some families shelter in cars loaded with whatever belongings they could carry. 

Other images show families fleeing al-Shahbaa using vehicles that can barely make it down the road, in scenes reminiscent of the 2018 exodus from Afrin. 

The journey from al-Shahbaa to Tabqa, roughly 140 kilometers to the southeast, took hours because of heavy traffic and the slow movement of cars, Omar said, noting that some families had no food or water.

One journalist from Tabqa, who spoke to displaced people as they arrived, told Syria Direct four people died during the journey: two elderly people and two children who died of exposure to the cold. Syria Direct could not independently verify this account with an official source. 

The journalist, who asked not to be identified by name, criticized what he saw as a “weak response by the AANES” in receiving the displaced. Some were transferred to schools converted into temporary shelters but “lacking heating,” while others made their way to the homes of relatives and acquaintances in northeastern Syria. “Most are still sleeping rough on sidewalks and farmland,” he added. 

Omar’s family found shelter at a school in Raqqa city, but no further assistance from local authorities. “We have not received any blankets or mattresses, and the school has no heaters,” she said. Her family of five is sharing “three blankets and two mattresses we carried with us from al-Shahbaa,” she added. 

“We are at a loss. Since this afternoon, we have not been able to sit down because of the cold,” she said via WhatsApp on Tuesday. 

The AANES appealed to humanitarian organizations for “urgent action” on Monday to help secure the needs of the displaced, estimating their total number at 120,000 people. Syria Direct reached out to the AANES for additional information, which it declined to provide. 

Trapped in al-Shahbaa

As Salwa Omar’s family made their way to Raqqa, Hassan Hassan (a pseudonym) was left behind, one of a number of people stuck in the Sherawa villages. He could not join Monday’s convoys because he had no means of transportation, he told Syria Direct via WhatsApp, asking to remain anonymous out of fear for his safety.

With SNA factions now controlling his village, “we are in a state of horror,” Hassan said in a voice message. “Everyone knows what they did in Afrin.” His mother interjected, adding: “We are stuck here—we don’t know what our fate will be.” 

So far, Hassan said he has not faced any abuse or harassment. Still, he and his family “don’t dare leave the house,” and do not know what the coming days will bring. His aunt’s family was also unable to evacuate. 

The future of the remaining al-Shahbaa and Sherawa residents is uncertain, whether they were trapped, like Hassan, or chose to stay. 

“The SNA factions cannot be trusted, and there are no assurances that residents will not face violations, which they have committed against our people,” Ahmad Misto, a Kurdish activist from Afrin living in SNA-controlled northern Aleppo, said. 

At the same time, he believes staying is “better than being displaced to northeastern Syria, where elements of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) use the population as a plaything.” In his view, “what is happening now in al-Shahbaa is the Kurdish people paying the price for the control of the PKK and its Syrian branch, the Democratic Union Party (PYD).”

Under the SNA, “a person might be detained for a day or two for interrogation, or imprisoned for a month and then return home, if they are a fighter,” the activist said. 

However, this is by no means a fixed rule as he implied. Many Kurds have been arrested and held for years, even those who were themselves affiliated with the SNA. 

SNA factions have committed a host of violations against Kurdish and Arab residents of areas they control in northern Syria. These include killings, torture, enforced disappearance, extortion and the seizure of homes and farmland. 

Any assurances? 

The Afrin and al-Shahbaa Council, affiliated with the AANES, announced on Tuesday that dozens of buses would be dispatched to pick up stranded residents in Sherawa and al-Shahbaa. These buses would be the last, it said. 

The AANES designated two collection points for the buses: the first in front of the bakery in the northern Aleppo town of Deir Jamal, and the second in the Ahras village square. 

Hassan waited for word of the buses’ arrival until 1:30pm local time. They did not come. He thought it unlikely they would, “given the factions roaming the streets in their vehicles.” 

While some wait for transportation that may not arrive, others are determined to stay. Aisha Muhammad (a pseudonym), 32, who is also in the Sherawa area, is one of them. 

“My children are small, and it is difficult for us to go with this cold weather,” Muhammad, whose four children are between the ages of six and 11, told Syria Direct. She also does not feel directly threatened because she has not engaged in “any work with AANES institutions.” 

On Monday, she heard a call put out by the factions using the loudspeakers of her village’s mosques, “calling on us to remain in our homes, and vowing that nobody would be hurt,” she said. Six Kurdish civilians Syria Direct spoke to in Sherawa and al-Shahbaa villages while preparing this report said the SNA had not harmed them. 

The Department of Political Affairs within the HTS-affiliated Salvation Government issued a statement directly addressing Aleppo’s Kurds on Monday. It said it would “not allow anyone to disrupt or attempt to undermine the brotherhood and cooperation between all parts of Syrian society,” and called on them to remain in their areas. The SNA has issued no similar written statement. 

While SNA fighters “are moving through the streets without attacking anyone,” and on Monday “brought bread to distribute” to residents of Hassan’s Sherawa village, he is still worried. He fears this treatment could be “temporary, until the situation calms down,” and that “violations” could be committed once the active military operation is over. 

This report was originally published in Arabic and translated into English by Mateo Nelson.