Turkey deports 600 Syrians recording highest toll of deportation
TEL ABYAD, Syria (North Press) – Turkey forcibly deported 600 Syrian refugees on Friday through two border crossings with areas it has occupied in northern Syria, recording the highest toll of the number of the deportees since the start of the process.
Turkish authorities deported more than 600 Syrians including women and children through Bab al-Hawa crossing in Idlib Governorate in northwest Syria and Tel Abyad crossing in Raqqa Governorate in northern Syria, an exclusive source told North Press.
The source said the Turkish authorities handed over 190 refugees to the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, aka the Syrian National Army (SNA), in Tel Abyad to place them in shelters for investigations.
The city of Tel Abyad and its countryside has been under the Turkish occupation since 2019 following the so-called “Peace Spring Operation” to push away the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) under the pretext of “the protection of the Turkish national security.”
Also, the authorities handed over more than 400 refugees including women and children to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front), according to sources.
The deportation process took place after obtaining their biometric data and fingerprints to prevent their permanent return, without informing their relatives residing in Turkey about their deportation.
According to administrative sources from the crossings of Bab al-Hawa, Bab al-Salama, and Tel Abyad, the number of Syrians forcibly deported exceeded 3,000 in September.