HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Hassan Hamid, a resident of the town of Abu Rasin, north of Hasakah, northeastern Syria, wanders among the destroyed houses of his neighbors, after they were hit by dozens of artillery shells over the past week.
Overnight, the western neighborhood of the town was almost completely destroyed, and its houses were emptied of their residents due to the offensive by Turkish forces and their affiliated armed opposition Syrian factions.
From December 21, 2021 until the beginning of January, the town, near the contact lines, was subjected to frequent and intense bombardment with artillery shells and long-range missiles.
“The bombardment started at night during Isha prayer time, It was intensive shelling, about five missiles at a minute, Three rockets hit my neighbor’s house and two hit the house of another neighbor, while another hit three meters near my house,” Hamid said.
He pointed out that he found himself lucky that his family miraculously survived and his house was the least damaged by the bombing.
“It removed all the asphalt, my house shook, we said the Shahada for fear of death.”
Casualties and losses
The recent bombing of the town and its villages killed six people, and emptied nine villages of their residents and the western neighborhood of the town.
On late December 2021, three people lost their lives and five others were wounded, including two children, in the bombing carried out by the Turkish forces and the affiliated opposition factions on the town of Abu Rasin.
Additionally, the civilians’ houses and the Great Mosque in the town of Abu Rasin were damaged in the Turkish bombardment, which took place while the residents were praying, injuring a person.
In the center of the town, staffs of the local administrative institutions return to their work to run daily affairs.
Early this month, the Municipality building in Abu Rasin, affiliated with the Autonomous Administration, was subjected to artillery shelling and parts of it were damaged.
In front of the destroyed part of the municipality, Ali Abdi, the co-chair of the municipality, told North Press that the Turkish bombing during the last ten days caused the destruction of 16 houses in the town and eight houses in the village of al-Asadiya.
“The municipality of Zargan town was targeted by the Turkish occupation, we started repairing it, and were about to finish, they targeted it again,” he said.
Regarding the services they provide to the residents at present, he said they provide services to the residents according to the available capabilities, such as water, street cleaning and lighting only.
Fleeing and returning
In the neighborhood next to Hamid, Jamil al-Ateiwi recounted the horrific moments they lived, as did many residents of the western neighborhood.
“We heard the sound of shelling, we did not move from our place for fear of shrapnel, but after a few moments the shells fell near us,” he said.
“We all ran outside after a shell hit the house.”
At night, he fled with his family to a village in the town’s countryside, to return two hours after the bombing stopped.
“At night, no one stays in the village, everyone leaves and comes back in the morning, when it is 2 or 3 pm, everyone leaves, this happens on a daily basis, we have had a week like this.”
The fall of a Turkish shell on the house of al-Ateiwi caused a hole in the roof and destroyed some furniture.
“There is no solution, last night there was no electricity even. How could we sleep in our houses amid the ongoing bombardment?” he added.
The town’s market also witnessed a partial return of the residents, and the movement seemed clear in the shops, where the residents began to buy their daily necessities, after two days of relative calm.
The Russian forces patrols, which are one of the guarantors of the ceasefire in the area since 2019, passed in the main street in the town.
Like Russia, the US forces have recently conducted patrols in the area, more than two years after they withdrew from it after the Turkish forces and opposition factions took control of Tel Abyad and Sere Kaniye areas and reached the outskirts of the town in late 2019.