ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – Ahmad Za’rour and his family are enjoying a stable life in the town of Miskan in the northern countryside of Aleppo, north Syria, but he is afraid of being displaced again and facing the same events he had lived during the years of the Syrian war.
His fears rose after Turkey started threating to launch a military operation on the town of Tel Rifaat in the northern countryside of Aleppo.
The battlefield that Turkey threatens to enter is only 7 km away from the town of Miskan, and it is possible that any attack on the city will affect the town and destroy the house of Za’rour and his agricultural project, as well as the rest of the residents’ property.
On June 1, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his threats of launching a military operation on northern Syria, to complete the so-called remained portions of the “safe zone” plan along Turkey’s southern border, and specified his targets in the two Syrian cities of Manbij and Tel Rifaat.
The Turkish “safe zone” is an area of 30-35 km (19-22 miles) deep into Syrian territory that Turkey started establishing in 2019 to settle Syrian refugees in an area along its border with Syria, as well as to keep it free from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which it regards as terrorists.
After the destruction of his house, following the battles in his area in 2016 between government forces and Syrian opposition factions, Za’rour was forced to flee with his family using an agricultural tractor and headed to a camp near the Turkish border in Idlib.
“I suffered a lot when I got out of my house. I lived for more than four years in a dilapidated house in Atmeh area near the Syrian-Turkish border,” Za’rour told North Press.
Two years ago, the man returned to his town, renovated his house and bought a generator and solar panels for his agricultural project after borrowing money and selling his tractor and his wife’s jewelry.
If war breaks out again in the region, “All these efforts may go with the wind,” he said.
Displace once again
In 2012, Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA), took control of most of the northern countryside of Aleppo, after fierce battles between them and the government forces, which led to a mass displacement wave among the residents of the area, in addition to destroying the infrastructure.
In February 2020, the government forces managed to take control of Aleppo-Damascus Highway, after battles with the SNA factions.
After that residents of some towns and villages in the northern countryside of Aleppo including Miskan returned to their areas hoping to settle there after a difficult displacement journey.
Most of the residents have struggled to restore their destroyed homes and have returned to work in their farms and shops.
The residents believe that all their efforts to start a new life will be pounded if Turkey launched its military operation, with the recent news talking about ongoing military mobilization and reinforcement by opposition factions on the contact lines near their villages and towns.
They also fear another wave of displacement with the start of the Turkish bombardment on villages in the region especially those located on the lines of contact.
All communities are targeted
Youssef Hanoura has the same fear as Za’rour, where he believes that it is not only the Kurds who will be targeted in the potential Turkish military operation if it occurs, but all communities of the northern countryside of Aleppo are in danger.
Hanoura, a resident of Hardatnin village in Aleppo northern countryside, said that in case Turkey launched its military operation, “We will be arrested and killed by the opposition militants under the pretext of supporting and dealing with the Syrian government.”
The residents of the region believe that Turkey aims to destroy the simple gains that people have achieved and the state of relative security that they are living in.
They stress that the return of the Turkish-backed factions to their areas means the return of theft, kidnapping, looting, and insecurity as what is currently happening in Afrin and other Syrian areas controlled by Turkey and its affiliated factions.
Turkey along with the SNA launched the “Olive Branch” military operation in 2018, through which Turkey occupied Afrin region, and displaced the original inhabitants who resorted to Shahba region (Aleppo northern countryside) which includes about 40 villages and five camps and is controlled by Syrian government and Russian forces.
Security chaos, infighting, and theft of civilian houses continue in the areas controlled by Turkey and the SNA.
Othman Abdulqader, a resident of Tel Jabbin town, believes that Turkey will not stop at the borders of Tel Rifaat, but will expand its borders to Aleppo.
“All our regions are within its [Turkey] expansion plans. We fear moving back to the era of banditry and separating the countryside from the city, as what happened at the beginning of the war,” Abdulqader concluded.