Russian patrol retreats after protest in northeast Syria’s Derik
DERIK, Syria (North Press) – A Russian military police patrol retreated from the vicinity of the city of Derik, northeast Syria, on Monday after residents objected to their stationing in the area.
A Russian patrol consisting of 11 armored vehicles set up a tent near the Burza Dam, east of Derik, in an attempt to station in the area, a North Press correspondent reported.
The area’s residents protested against their presence, which forced the patrol to withdraw towards the western side of the city, and later to return to their base at Qamishli Airport, the correspondent added.
“We came to express our objection to the presence of the Russians here. They should leave,” Ramziya Muhammad, an IDP from the city of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) who resides in Newroz camp, told North Press.
“If the Russians were honest, we would not have left Sere Kaniye. We came to tell them to leave, because we are afraid that we will be displaced because of them again,” Muhammad said.
“We, as residents of Derik, object to the Russians’ positioning in the area,” Muhammad Abdulrahim, a resident of Derik, told North Press.
“We realized that wherever the Russians station, it will be targeted by Turkey. We have clearly told them that ‘you are unwanted here,'” he added.
Abdulrahim pointed out that the residents told the Russian patrol that the Russians, as guarantor forces, do not provide protection. On the contrary, they collude with the Turks against the region.
In a similar incident in mid-June, a Russian patrol evacuated its position in the village of Qasr Deeb in the countryside of Derik hours after the residents protested against its stationing in the village.
The co-chair of Derik, Zulfa Badro, told North Press that they had told the Russian patrol that the residents of the area did not want their presence.
She added that the leaders of the patrol called for clarification of the reasons, and they were told that the reason was due to the lack of confidence in the Russians after what happened in Afrin and Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and the negative Russian position at the time.
Badro indicated that the residents gave the patrol an hour to leave.
This is the fourth time that Russian forces have attempted to station in the countryside of Derik amid protests by the residents and objections to their presence.