SYRIA: Only 50 Kurds, 7 Christians left in occupied Rish Ayno, Yezidis, Armenians, and Chechens have entirely left, according to monitors

HASAKAH, Syria — In the wake of the Turkish occupation of cities of Rish Ayno (Ras al-Ayn / Serêkaniyê) and Tel Abyad (Girê Spî) in October 2019, a calculate campaign of displacement has been underway. Turkish forces, alongside their Syrian National Army (SNA) proxies, orchestrated the expulsion of over 150,000 people from the region.

Statistics painstakingly collected by the Committee for the Displaced from Rish Ayno and the Ta’awur Association for Victims, reveal a heart-wrenching reality. Four camps now house the displaced population: Serêkaniyê Camp and Washo Kani Camp in Hasakah, Newroz Camp in Dayrik (Dêrik), and Tal al-Saman Camp in Raqqa.

The camps’ residents make up roughly 85% of the regions’ original inhabitants. Only 50 elderly Kurds and 7 Syriacs remain in Rish Ayno. None of the already few Yezidis, Armenians, or Chechens, once a unique part of the Rish Ayno’s diversity, remain in the city.

The plight of the civilians displaced from Rish Ayno and Tel Abyad is one of unrelenting hardship, acutely felt within the camps they are now forced to inhabit which lack access to significant humanitarian thanks to the de facto embargo by Turkey and the Syrian regime.