ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – The 45-year-old Hamdan al-Issa, an automotive part retailer in the city of Manbij, north Syria, is thinking about either selling goods of his shop or transferring them to a safer place outside the city, fearing lose in case Turkey launches a military operation on the area.
Al-Issa said that after the Turkish threats, he started thinking of leaving the city and preserving his family’s livelihood from theft and looting.
Traders in Manbij are afraid of the potential Turkish attack and of losing their livelihoods, money and goods inside their shops.
They also voice concern over displacement that may happen, especially after social media outlets claimed that date of the military operation would be after Eid al-Adha.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently announced plans to carry out another major military cross-border incursion into northern Syria. Erdogan specified his targets in the two northern Syrian cities of Manbij and Tel Rifaat.
On July 1, Erdogan said that Ankara’s new military operation in northern Syria could begin at any moment.
“I always say that we can start [the incursion] at any moment at night. We should not worry and rush, especially since we are working in the area,” Erdogan told reporters after returning from the NATO summit in Madrid.
In Manbij, there are 375 traders including traders of foodstuff, agricultural crops, building materials, according to official statistics of Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Manbij.
Also, there are 140 car dealers and automotive part retailer, 25 of who closed their shops and transformed their goods outside Manbij for fear of the Turkish operation, according to shop owners in the area.
The 39-year-old Khalil Baki, an owner of a shop for selling and manufacturing agricultural machinery in Manbij, complains about the decline in purchasing power of agricultural supplies.
Baki says that since the beginning of the Turkish threats, he, like other traders, has not bought any expensive goods, because he is afraid of losing them if Turkey implements its threats.
Muhammad al-Abdullah, 34, an automotive part retailer in Manbij, is also thinking about leaving the area and transforming his shop’s goods outside the area due to deterioration of work.
Al-Abdullah said that the Turkish threats undermine security and stability in the area, forcing traders to desert the industrial zone in Manbij that has witnessed a remarkable progress in both industry and commerce during the recent years after the military expulsion of Islamic State Organization (ISIS) of the city.
In 2014 ISIS militants took control over the city and its countryside, but it was liberated in 2016 by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) supported by the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS following fierce battles.
Since then, the SDF-affiliated Manbij Military Council has been controlling the city.
In 2019, following an agreement with the SDF to stop Turkish threats, Russian troops and Syrian government forces deployed in the city.
Following the Turkish military operation Peace Spring against Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Tel Abyad in 2019, Turkey signed two ceasefire agreements one with Russia and the other with the US stipulating ceasing all hostilities and the withdrawal of the SDF 32 km away from the Turkish border.
The SDF did withdrew from the border areas according to the agreement, but Turkey continues targeting the area.
The 38-year-old Khaled al-Ali, a grocery store owner, calls on the guarantor states in Syria and the active countries in the Syrian file to stand against the Turkish threats and to spare the residents more killing, destruction and displacement.