Syria’s Sere Kaniye displaced committee suspends return convoys after attacks
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) Displaced Persons Committee in Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria, on Tuesday temporarily suspended preparations for upcoming return convoys, including the second convoy, following attacks on the first group of returning civilians.
The committee said it would resume preparations only after security, legal and practical guarantees are provided to protect returnees and their property.
More than 400 displaced Kurdish families returned to Sere Kaniye and surrounding villages on Monday in the first phase of a long-awaited return, following years of calls for a safe, organized and dignified process.
According to the committee, members of the first convoy were subjected to assault, threats, intimidation and what it described as “deliberate” targeting of civilians. Property was damaged and gunfire was reported in the vicinity of returnees amid what the committee said was an absence of adequate security measures.
The committee added that most families who reached the city were living under direct threats, while others had sheltered inside their homes or in shelters amid what it described as extremely dangerous security conditions. Some families were reportedly seeking safe routes to leave areas where they faced danger.
The committee indicated that the incidents could not be treated as an isolated dispute, warning that they represented a serious threat to displaced civilians’ right to return to their areas of origin.
It held the Syrian transitional government in Damascus, the presidential team and the security and military authorities responsible for protecting returnees legally and morally, and for ensuring conditions necessary for their safe return.
The committee stressed that the right of displaced people to return to their homes was not subject to negotiation, adding that it would continue to pursue the issue through peaceful, legal and political means.
Hasakah Deputy Governor Ahmad al-Hilali on Monday described the incidents in Sere Kaniye following the return of the families as “condemnable behavior” and said authorities would not tolerate attempts to provoke discord.
The committee called for the immediate protection of returnees and civilians remaining in the city, including the establishment of safe corridors when necessary.
It also called for an independent and transparent investigation into the attacks, identification and arrest of those responsible, and their referral to the judiciary.
The committee urged authorities to establish clear and publicly announced security and legal guarantees, as well as a mechanism to organize future return convoys in coordination with the Displaced Persons Committee.
It said suspending the upcoming convoys was not a retreat from the right to return but a necessary measure to protect civilians until minimum security and legal guarantees are in place.
The committee also called on authorities to ensure that armed groups cannot impose security conditions preventing displaced people from exercising their right to return.
The return process follows years of displacement from Sere Kaniye, which was seized by Turkish forces and affiliated Syrian factions in October 2019 following a Turkish military operation against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).