Syrian regime pushes Afrin IDPs to leave their regions: AANES official
ALEPPO COUNTRYSIDE, Syria (North Press) – The siege imposed by the Syrian regime on the displaced people of Afrin, northern countryside of Aleppo, is to force them to leave the region, an official of the Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (AANES) said on Thursday.
“The region (the northern countryside of Aleppo) lacks international support and aid delivery,” Suleiman Ja’far, co-chair of the Legislative Council of Afrin, told North Press.
Ja’far criticized the “negative role” of the Russian forces present in the region, which the Autonomous Administration accuses of helping Turkey invade Afrin region in 2018.
“It is assumed that Russia acts as a guarantor, but it sided with Turkey and allowed it to occupy Afrin,” Ja’far added.
He pointed out that Russia allows the Syrian government to siege the displaced people of Afrin in order to force them to leave the area.
About 19,000 displaced families from Afrin, with a total of 67,000 people, live in five camps and dozens of villages in the northern countryside of Aleppo, after they were displaced from Afrin due to the Turkish invasion alongside with the armed opposition groups affiliated with it in March 2018.
Since June 2020, the Syrian government has prevented fuel and food aid from reaching the Afrin IDPs camps.
Since October 2018, the security checkpoints of the Syrian government have occasionally closed Muselmiya crossing, which separates the northern countryside of Aleppo from the city center of Aleppo.