By Malin Muhammad
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Since its occupation by Turkish forces and their affiliated opposition factions of the Syrian National Army (SNA) in 2019, the city of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), northern Syria, has turned into a region marred by security chaos and human rights violations against civilian residents.
In October 2019, Turkish forces, along with their opposition SNA factions invaded the cities of Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad and their surrounding areas after a military operation dubbed ‘Peace Spring’. The offensive caused the displacement of approximately 300,000 of the region’s original inhabitants.
For four years Sere Kaniye residents have been bearing the brunt of human rights violations by SNA factions and Turkish forces which have always been committed in front of the whole world amid absolute silence. Tens of thousands of its displaced original inhabitants have been living in scattered tents in IDP camps established by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) in the countryside of Hasakah in later 2019.
Their sole demand is return
Hardly an occasion passes without the IDPs of the city of Sere Kaniye renewing their demands to the international community to break its shameful silence, assume its legal and humanitarian responsibilities, and secure them a safe return to their city, towns, and villages from which they were forcibly displaced after the occupation.
IDPs from Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad are distributed in the Sere Kaniye and Washokani camps in the vicinity of the city of Hasakah, in addition to their presence in other camps and shelter centers. Part of them also live in cities and towns in northeastern Syria.
A few days ago, thousands of IDPs from Sere Kaniye and its countryside in the Sere Kaniye and Washokani camps demonstrated and renewed their demands to the international community to expel Turkish forces and SNA factions from their city and return its original inhabitants.
Some of the demonstrators told North Press that their primary demand is to return to their region. They stressed that they do not accept the Turkish occupation in any way.
Informed sources told North Press that only 50 percent of the Sere Kaniye Kurds still live in the once Kurdish-majority city, adding that most of them are elderly people.
Yazidis, whose population was estimated at 3,000 individuals in 2012 according to the Yazidi House, were distributed in the neighborhood of Zardasht, and the villages of al-Dri’i, Taliliah, al-Asadiya, Gava, al-Dardara, Tel Sakher, Jan Tamr, Shakria, al-Saeed, Lazga, Sheikh Hammoud, and others. After the occupation, however, these areas have nearly become empty of this religious minority.
As for Christians, the sources said, there were only 14 individuals in the city.
All kinds of human rights violations
As violations continue in Sere Kaniye, more humanitarian organizations call for holding international forums to shed light on these practices.
Human rights activist Muhi-addin Isso, the Executive Director of the Dar Association for Victims of Forced Displacement, an NGO concerned with helping and advocating for IDPs, emphasized during a forum organized by North Press in mid-August that Sere Kaniye is witnessing all forms of human rights violations and crimes.
The activist strongly highlighted that “Turkey prevents journalists from entering the area and hinders the work of civil society organizations there, which keeps Sere Kaniye distant from the media spotlight regarding the violations being committed there.
Isso held Turkey and SNA factions primarily responsible for these violations, followed by the “US and Russia which allowed Turkey to invade the region.”
Most of SNA factions are involved in arbitrary arrests and torture. In the first six months of this year, the Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press recorded the arrest of 496 people, 79 in Sere Kaniye and 13 in Tel Abyad.
For his part, international law researcher, Jiwan Isso, said that “the situation of human rights is bad in all aspects.” The region has turned into hotbeds of instability, threatening Syria and the entire region, “especially after bringing families of terrorist organizations, including ISIS and al-Qaeda, and the displacement of original inhabitants.”
Isso, who is also an official in the Sere Kaniye Displaced People Committee, affiliated with the AANES, called for expanding the role of civil society organizations and media institutions to convey the truth to the public opinion and highlight the scale of the systemic violations that are being committed. “Such acts are considered crimes against humanity according to the international humanitarian law.”
Distribution of SNA factions
After invading both cities, Turkish forces distributed the areas of control among the SNA’s three legions. They placed the city of Sere Kaniye and parts of its countryside mainly under the control of the Second Legion, while they put the city of Tel Abyad and its surroundings under the control of the Third Legion.
The First Legion’s factions are distributed in areas in Sere Kaniye, Tel Abyad, and Suluk, and have outposts in these areas in general. Its influence, however, is less compared to the those of the Second and Third Legions.
This distribution was implemented by Turkey to avoid intra-SNA clashes over the Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad border crossings.
In August 2023, the US Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on leaders within the SNA’s factions of al-Amshat and Hamza over human rights violations in Afrin.
Demographic change
Since the start of July, Turkish authorities have initiated a deportation campaign targeting Syrian refugees based in Turkey. Numerous refugees have been deported to Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad, with the intention of settling them there as part of Turkey’s demographic change project.
In September alone, 1,455 Syrian refugees were deported through the Tel Abyad and Ras al-Ain border crossings, according to what North Press correspondents monitored.
Many of those deported are Iraqi and Afghan citizens, sparking controversy about those people’s true identity.
Since taking control in late 2019, SNA factions have taken over 5,500 houses and 1,200 shops in Sere Kaniye and Tel Abayd, according to Synergy/Hevdesti Association, a victims’ advocacy group operating in northeast Syria.