SIRIN, Syria — The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria say no Arab families were evicted from the township of Sirin in the Kurdish controlled Rojava area, adding locals will be able to return after the town is cleared of explosives. Military personnel of the YPG told Rudaw Wednesday that all residents in Sirin, regardless of their ethnic background, had been asked to leave the township for safety reasons. “The ISIS militants have planted bombs throughout the area and we needed more than a week to ensure landmines are removed,” said Abu Ammar al-Kissofi from the Syrian Free Army, which pushed the militants back from the area in early May in a joint operation with YPG forces. Sirin, 35 kilometers (22 miles) southeast of Kobani, fell to ISIS militants in early January this year with most of the residents already on the run towards safer areas in Rojava. Officials say ISIS militants tend to plant explosives in cities as they withdraw in an effort to deter locals from coming back to their areas. On July 17, coalition airstrikes targeted a factory in Mosul that Iraqi officials claimed was used to make car bombs and explosives.
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