Military headquarters amid homes disturb residents of Syria’s Azaz
AZAZ, Syria (North Press) – Mansour Kanno (a pseudonym), a resident of the city of Azaz in the northern countryside of Aleppo, had no choice but to rent his house to one of the displaced families in the city and move to another neighborhood after the Turkish-backed Liwa Assifat al-Shamal faction took one of the homes next to his house as their headquarters.
Kanno says: “The generator of the military headquarters worked all day, accompanied by the noise of the faction members, until the morning hours.”
Those voices used to bother him, but he was not able to tell them to stop making noise “for fear of being arrested or rebuked by the faction members,” he added.
Residents and IDPs in Azaz say that the presence of the military positions of Turkish-backed armed factions among civilian homes jeopardizes their lives, especially as these headquarters contain weapons and explosive materials.
The members of the faction also spend most of their time during the evenings on the roofs during the summer, which causes inconvenience to the residents of neighboring houses.
Since July 2012, Azaz and the surrounding villages have been under the control of armed factions affiliated with Turkey, and it has security forces such as the military police, the civil police, the State Security and Anti-Drug Agency, some of which belong to the factions and others which are tied directly to Turkish forces.
The city houses about six military headquarters belonging to the Assifat al-Shamal Brigade and the military and civil police.
Liwa Assifat al-Shamal faction is one of the most prominent components of the Syrian National Army loyal to Turkey and operating in Azaz and Jarablus, in addition to areas in the districts of Afrin city in the countryside of Aleppo.
The population of Azaz, after waves of displacement from the southern countryside of Idlib, is about 250,000, and it has witnessed frequent IED explosions, booby-trapped cars and motorcycles, in addition to assassinations, kidnappings and looting.
Ammar Alito (a pseudonym), a resident of Azaz, does not dare tell the Assifat al-Shamal faction’s members to stop the loud sounds they make during the night hours.
“We always hear the screams of the faction’s members as they play cards on the roof of the headquarters, and their voices rise in the neighborhood with the loud songs they listen to during their evening,” Alito said.
The man finds no solution other than “endurance and patience” in light of his fears of being arrested if he files a complaint.
In the past years, Azaz witnessed protests by residents and the displaced, demanding the exit of military headquarters from the city.