Turkish authorities deport 480 refugees to Syria
TEL ABYAD, IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Turkish authorities deported on Sunday 480 refugees, including 16 Iraqis, through the Tel Abyad and Bab al-Hawa border crossings in northern and northwestern Syria, respectively.
An exclusive source told North Press that the Turkish authorities deported 480 Syrian and Iraqi refugees through Bab al-Hawa and Tel Abyad border crossings to areas held by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, also known as the Syrian National Army (SNA).
The source said that 160 refugees, including 16 Iraqis, were handed over by the Turkish side to SNA factions via the Tal Abyad crossing in northern Raqqa. They were then transferred to shelter centers for interrogation.
In the same context, sources informed that Turkish authorities handed over 320 Syrian refugees, including women and their children, to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) through Bab al-Hawa crossing, in northern Idlib.
The sources added that the deportation process took place after the Turkish authorities took all personal identification documents from the deportees. They also took their fingerprints and retinal scans to ensure that they would not return to Turkish territory.
Sources within Tel Abyad, Bab al-Hawa, and Bab al-Salama border crossings confirmed to North Press that the number of forcibly deported Syrian refugees exceeded 7,500 since the beginning of September.