A Turkish flag painted over a historic home in Rajo, Afrin, Syria. The house was reportedly looted by the Hamza Division, sanctioned by the US Treasury, in 2018.
One of the most pressing challenges still facing the Syrian people is the plight of the millions who remain internally displaced following the long and devastating war. Many have been forced to flee multiple times as a result of shifting frontlines and operations by various factions.
In northeastern Syria, the future of displaced residents from Afrin, Ras al-Ayn, and Tal Abyad remains a top priority. The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) has been urging the interim government in Damascus to implement a solution that would enable these people to return to their homes safely and with dignity.
The situation is especially dire for Afrin’s internally displaced persons (IDPs). Tens of thousands who had initially resettled in the Shehba region were displaced once again when Turkish-backed militants launched attacks in the aftermath of the regime’s collapse, exploiting the resulting power vacuum. Most of these IDPs were evacuated to hastily constructed housing in Raqqa following a U.S.-brokered agreement during the Turkish-supported offensive.
Yet ongoing violations by Turkish-backed militias in the Afrin region have made return nearly impossible. In recent weeks, a young Kurdish man named Mustafa Jamil Sheikho was shot and killed by these militants while trying to protect his family’s solar panels from theft.
Since Turkey’s occupation of Afrin over seven years ago, widespread abuses—including theft, extortion, kidnapping, and murder—have been reported, contributing to a deepening sense of insecurity and injustice among displaced residents.
Following the fall of the Assad regime and the agreement by most Turkish-backed factions to integrate into Syria’s newly established Ministry of Defense, there was cautious optimism that Turkish forces would begin withdrawing and that Damascus would coordinate the safe, organized return of displaced Afrin residents. However, more than six months since Bashar al-Assad fled the country, no such steps have been taken.