Turkey settles ISIS families in NE Syria – NGO
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Turkish forces and Turkish-backed opposition factions, also known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), settled at least 55 families, including Islamic State (ISIS) families, in Turkish-occupied Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), northeast Syria, a local NGO reported on Wednesday.
Hevdesti/Synergy Association, a victims’ advocacy group focused on Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad, reported that Turkish-occupied areas in Syria continue to witness the illegal destruction and occupation of civilians’ property. Displaced Kurdish families continue to be prevented from returning to their homes, the report says.
The association documented “systematic and repeated patterns of looting and property appropriation” that belong to civilians in the aforementioned areas.
Turkey and Turkish-backed militias have been involved in cases of “unlawful seizure, burning, sale or destroying real estates, and expelling the indigenous population,” according to the report.
Turkey has launched three invasion into northern and northeastern regions in Syria. In 2016, it occupied Jarablus and al-Bab. Two years later, it occupied the Afrin region. In 2019, the cities of Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad were invaded.
Since Turkish forces and SNA factions have taken over the abovementioned areas, they have “occupied houses after civilians had fled or ultimately forced residents, especially the Kurds, to leave their homes, through threats, extortion, murder, kidnapping, torture and detention,” the association added.
Although civilians filed complaints to the military councils of those forces or to other local councils, they could not reclaim their properties. Instead, the SNA militants threatened, extorted or detained many of them, the NGO noted.
In addition, the report added that a high number of people have been kidnapped and forced to pay ransom money to the SNA factions to be released.
Turkey also forcibly brought thousands of IDPs form other Syrian regions and settled them in the original population’s houses in Afrin, Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad.
Since the Turkish occupation of the aforementioned areas, Hevdesti/Synergy has documented the seizure of more than 5.500 houses, 1.200 shops and about one million acres of farmlands by SNA forces. In addition, 55 residential buildings have been forcibly evacuated.