TEL TAMR, Syria (North Press) – Dozens of villages in the town of Tel Tamr, north of Syria’s Hasakah city, sit nearly empty. Others have been turned into frontlines against Turkish forces and Turkish-backed armed opposition groups, keeping the remaining residents living in fear.
The remaining families are concerned about their fate in the light of the ongoing shelling by Turkish forces and the opposition groups that have been stationed in the vicinity of their villages since the Turkish invasion of Sere Kaniye (Ras Al-Ain) and Tel Abyad in late 2019.
The frontlines in Tel Tamr extend about 40 kilometers.
It is our land
In the village of Umm al-Keyf, west Tel Tamr, one of the largest villages is almost empty of its residents. Ibrahim al-Saleh, a resident from Tel Tamr countryside, says from behind the wall of his home, “We are here; this is our land and possessions and we would rather die than hand them over to mercenaries.”
Umm al-Keyf, which is one kilometer from opposition-held areas, used to contain over 300 families; now there are only 30.
“Shelling takes place successively. Our children fear the sounds of shelling, so we rush to the wild and we return whenever it stops,” he told North Press.
Turkish forces and Turkish-backed armed Syrian opposition groups took control of the cities of Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad in October of 2019, displacing more than 300,000 persons.
Although Ankara signed two ceasefire agreements with Washington and Moscow in late 2019, local residents have accused Turkey of violating the agreements and targeting their villages with shells and bullets.
“I feel bad”
In the village of Umm al-Keyf nothing disturbs the calmness but children’s shouts and noises of motorbikes used for transportation.
64-year-old villager Amina al-Arnah says, holding back tears, “All the houses around are my children’s, and they got displaced.”
“My neighbors were like my children; however, they fled due to the shelling,” she added.
Early in 2021, indiscriminate shelling of north Tel Tamr caused electricity to be cut to about 28 villages for more than a month.
The town’s western villages are witnessing an almost complete lack of services due to the difficulty in reaching them because opposition groups are stationed near the M4 Highway.
The M4 Highway separates Turkish-backed armed opposition-held areas and Syrian government-held areas near the frontlines under Russian auspices.
23 empty villages
Tel Tamr Council Co-chair Jiwan Ayiob said that 29 villages around Tel Tamr have been seized by the opposition groups, while 23 villages have been turned into frontlines, displacing their residents.
“In the 23 villages between Tel Tamr and Zargan, a few residents are still residing in their villages,” he added.
“But they are afraid, because shelling has been ongoing since the first day of occupation, in addition to burning crops during harvest time by the occupier and its mercenaries,” he said.
The 4,200 displaced families that have fled the villages of Sere Kaniye and Tel Tamr are residing in shelter centers and villages near Khabur River, according to the Tel Tamr Council.