By Stella Youssef
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On the ancient ruins of the fallen Roman empire stands an ethnically diverse and newly established region in the northern countryside of Aleppo, aka the Shahba Region, northwestern Syria, which holds the forcibly displaced people of Afrin region following its invasion in 2018 in a military operation dubbed “Olive Branch” by Turkey along with its affiliated armed opposition factions, aka the Syrian National Army (SNA).
The operation caused the displacement of about 300,000 of the original Kurdish inhabitants of Afrin who have been taking shelter in villages and camps in Shahba Region, ever since.
The area has been militarily protected by Russian and Syrian government forces since 2018.
Bakr Alo, co-chair of the Administration of Shahba and Afrin Region which currently operates in the northern countryside of Aleppo and is affiliated with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), said the Shahba Region and Afrin are geographically adjacent areas and socially intertwined where around 300,000 people used to reside there, including Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, and others.
Khalil Hannan, one of the few original inhabitants of Shahba, said the region witnessed many clashes between the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the armed opposition factions and al-Nusra Front (currently known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS) leading the majority of the population to leave their homes, properties, and lands behind. Some of them were displaced to nearby areas or immigrated to neighboring states or Europe, whereas very few remained.
According to the latest statistics by the Social Affairs and Labor Board of the Afrin region, there are about 110,000 IDPs from Afrin residing in over 50 villages and towns in Shahba Region and the five camps of Barkhodan, Sardam, Afrin, al-Awda, and Shahba.
The Administration of Shahba and Afrin Region manages the area that extends between the city of Aleppo, Azaz region and the Afrin region. It also provides some services and has established the Internal Security Forces (Asayish) to maintain order and security there.
The region’s location between areas under the control of three parties, the Turkish-backed SNA, the Syrian government forces, and the Iranian-backed militias, hinder the access of the population to aid and relief assistance especially amid frequent attacks by the SNA factions and Turkish forces.
Melek Hussein, Alo’s co-chair, said several parties affiliated with the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross visited the Shahba Region and provided some services and aid for the IDPs.
“However, the humanitarian assistance provided for the IDPs does not meet 15 percent of their basic everyday needs. We have asked to provide more aid and other essential services and to lift the siege on the civilians” as the Syrian government controls the entry of supplies and aid to the region, Hussein said.
“Shahba Region is connected to the city of Aleppo in the southeast through two crossings,” Hussein added.
The government forces control the entire city of Aleppo except for the two Kurdish majority neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh which are semi-autonomous and are run by a civil administration.
The Fourth Armored Division of the Syrian government forces imposes intermittent blockades on the northern countryside of Aleppo and the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods preventing the entry of food, fuel, medicine, and other essentials.
On Jan. 24, Amnesty International urged the Syrian government to lift the siege, as it “violates human rights through the obstruction of residents’ access to fuel and basic needs.”
Providing aid and essentials to camps remain temporary solutions as the people of Afrin live in uncertainty.
Hannan said “The people and IDPs in Shahba gave many sacrifices and have shown determination and desire to return to their areas and homes.” What is left to do now is to address the root causes of the conflict in Syria politically, and ensure the safe return of all IDPs to their regions, he added.