The living and the dead are coming home to Afrin as displaced families return with the remains of their loved ones, fulfilling a long-held wish to lay them to rest in their native soil.
Since Turkish-backed factions took control of northern Aleppo at the start of December, more than 70,000 displaced people have returned to Afrin and its countryside, while others fled to northeastern Syria fearing abuses.
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) estimates 120,000 people have been displaced from areas of northern Aleppo captured by Turkish-backed opposition factions this week.
People displaced from Afrin to Aleppo city’s Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods bury their loved ones in wooden coffins rather than traditional shrouds, hoping to bring them home one day, even after death.
This investigation highlights how cancer patients across northern Syria are paying the price for the country’s faltering healthcare system. Cancer medications are scarce, northern Syria lacks specialized health facilities, and border crossing closures and difficulties of internal travel stand in the way of timely treatment.
