Turkish authorities deport over 600 Syrian refugees
IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Turkish authorities forcibly deported more than 600 Syrian refugees, including women and children, through Sere Kaniye and Bab al-Hawa border crossings in northern Syria. They also handed over detainees, including injured individuals, to Tel Abyad crossing, north Raqqa Governorate, north Syria.
Official sources at the Sere Kaniye and Bab al-Hawa crossings stated that “the Turkish authorities deported 615 Syrian refugees, including women and children, through the Sere Kaniye and Bab al-Hawa crossings, and they were handed over to the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, aka the Syrian National Army (SNA).”
They further informed North Press that 175 refugees were handed over by the Turkish side to the SNA at the Sere Kaniye crossing in northern Hasakah Governorate, northeast Syria, who transferred them to investigation centers.
Meanwhile, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS – formerly al-Nusra Front) handed over approximately 440 refugees, including women and children, through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, according to the sources.
Sources from the Tel Abyad, Bab al-Hawa, and Bab al-Salama crossings estimated that the number of forcibly displaced Syrians exceeded 7,200 individuals since the beginning of September.
In a related context, a source from the Military Police, affiliated with the SNA, at the Tel Abyad crossing stated that the Turkish authorities handed over 28 Syrian detainees, including individuals injured by Turkish border guards gunfire during their attempt to cross into Turkey, to the security agency of the crossing, which is affiliated with the Third Corps.
The source added that the security agency at the Tel Abyad crossing transferred the detainees to the counterterrorism center to continue the investigation with them.
The source also mentioned that among the detainees, there are four injured individuals in need of medical treatment due to the deteriorating humanitarian conditions of detention in Turkish facilities, as they have been held in Turkish detention centers for 10 days.