Erbil’s April 4 decision to stop issuing visas to Syrians has been a disaster for those for whom the Kurdistan Region of Iraq was a safe haven from conscription or a place to reunite with family members after years of separation.
Many houses have been destroyed, looted or confiscated by Turkish-backed armed groups in areas they seized during Operation Peace Spring. Similar acts have been carried out with impunity by a range of armed groups across Syria in recent years. Meanwhile, many displaced people have lost the documents proving that they own land or a house in their native towns and villages. What can Khedr, Amina and Zahra do to protect their property rights back home? This is the fourth episode of “The Hope to Return,” a podcast series by Syria Direct.
Many houses have been destroyed, looted or confiscated by Turkish-backed armed groups in areas they seized during Operation Peace Spring. Similar acts have been carried out with impunity by a range of armed groups across Syria in recent years. Meanwhile, many displaced people have lost the documents proving that they own land or a house in their native towns and villages. What can Khedr, Amina and Zahra do to protect their property rights back home? This is the fourth episode of “The Hope to Return,” a podcast series by Syria Direct.
Amina al-Fares lives with her family of 11 in an abandoned mill in the countryside of Tal Tamar, in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province. The family was displaced from their home near Ras al-Ain in 2019, and lived in the open for many months until they found this place. But they now risk being expelled by its owner.
Frustrated by a lack of services, residents of Hasakah’s informal displacement camps point to what they call a “double standard” from international organizations providing services at camps holding accused Islamic State members and relatives.
For some families in Syria’s northeast, concerns over education in the Autonomous Administration’s school system are among the factors prompting them to send their underage children to Europe through irregular migration.
Despite legal advances for religious minorities in AANES-controlled regions in recent years, most Yazidis in Hasakah province are still landless peasants with no formal rights over the houses and villages they built.
Eight years after the Islamic State attacked Assyrian villages along the Khabour River in Hasakah province, less than 10 percent of the community has returned to its historic home. What are the housing, land and property issues faced by this community in exile? And how do Assyrians see the future of their villages, which have become home to thousands of displaced people?
In northeastern Syria, the lack of an accurate land registry prompted de facto authorities to suspend most ongoing court cases regarding property rights. Two years later, legal paralysis prevails.
Years of war and shifts in the balance of power in Syria have left a deep mark on Syria’s clans, contributing to more frequent conflicts, complicating traditional authorities’ reconciliation efforts and laying the groundwork for future acts of revenge.
