ABU RASIN, Syria (North Press) – The town of Abu Rasin (Zargan), 75 km north of Hasakah in northeastern Syria, is witnessing a decline in market movement due to the displacement of the majority of its residents and their fears of returning to it due to repeated Turkish attacks.
Turkey and its affiliated armed opposition groups’ repeated bombardments reached the outskirts of Abu Rasin in late 2019 after attacks on the cities of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Tel Abyad (Gire-Spi) that forced 70% of the town’s residents to move to the cities of Qamishli and Hasakah.
Abu Rasin is located along the front line with Turkish and Turkish-backed forces, and is guarded by the Internal Security Forces (Asayish), while the regime-affiliated Syrian Border Guard forces are deployed along the front line alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces and under Russian auspices.
During its military operation in Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad in October 2019, Turkey occupied 25 villages administratively affiliated with Abu Rasin, and large areas of agricultural land fell under the control of the armed opposition groups in addition to the lands that fell on the front lines.
Closed shops
After the displacement of more than 70% of the town’s population, most shops in the market are closed.
Ali Darwish, who owns a grocery store in the town, said, “The market movement is too weak; there are very few people in the market, unlike before.”
“The town hasn’t been targeted for a week. Nobody comes to the market during the bombardment; when there is no shelling, the markets are full of people. There are very few people in the market, unlike before, and buying and selling have stopped,” Darwish said.
The town of Abu Rasin witnessed intense shelling by the Turkish forces and their affiliated armed opposition groups on December 5, 2020, as Turkish drones flew overhead and launched stun grenades, which caused a state of panic and anticipation among the families that still living in the town.
Empty fields
Within one of the western neighborhoods in the town, Noureddin Muhaimid sits in his aluminum workshop, preferring to stay despite the displacement of most of his neighbors. “We live here in our own house. We haven’t got any other place to go, we can’t migrate, and we don’t have any relatives living abroad. We are Armenian, and we settled in Abu Rasin.”
Farmers in the town of Abu Rasin are afraid of cultivating their lands for fear of being shot at by the armed opposition groups, whose posts are one kilometer from the town.
“Living conditions are poor, as most of the population depends on agriculture, and there is no agriculture,” Muhaimid added.
Muhaimid lament the situation in the town, expressing his longing for his neighbors who fled and emigrated.
“We are miserable in this situation, before, we were comfortable; there was work, money, and safety, the situation is different now, there is no work, no safety, not even people, the situation is unstable here,” he added.
Muhammad Othman, who was displaced from the village of Umm Ashaba which is occupied by the opposition groups in the town’s countryside, said that his family was displaced with the arrival of the Turkish army to the area.
“We were displaced from our homes due to the Turkish occupation. We used to live a carefree life, but our family is now separated,” he said.
Othman’s family lives in the Assyrian villages in the countryside of Tel Tamr, while he lives in the town of Abu Rasin and his brother is in Washokani camp near the city of Hasakah.