ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Syrian leadership is responsible for ensuring the safety of IDPs returning to their homes, a senior UN official affirmed to Rudaw's Namo Abdulla on Monday, shortly after Kurdish families returning to Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) in northeast Syria (Rojava) came under attack by armed assailants.
“Obviously the first responsible party is the government of Syria and they need to do what they can to make sure that people returning to their homes can do so safely," Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, told Rudaw, affirming that “If there are attacks on returnees, those will need to be fully investigated by the authorities.”
Earlier in the day, the first convoy of Kurdish displaced families departed Washokani camp in Hasaka for Sari Kani in Rojava, marking the start of a process to end seven years of displacement.
However, soon after, attacks broke out, Rudaw received footage from locals in the city depicting armed men on motorcycles surrounding a vehicle carrying internally displaced Kurds and attacking the car with AK-47 rifle butts, sticks, and stones.
Another video showed a minibus carrying displaced persons with its windows smashed and tires punctured, while a third video showed a man and a woman recording from a distance. The man was heard saying, "Four young men were brutally beaten," while the woman was heard asking, "Where is the [Syrian] general security, the police, and the state - anybody?"
Sipan Hemo, a Syrian defense ministry official - previously a senior commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - condemned the attacks "carried out by a number of saboteurs against families returning to the city of Sari Kani and their attempts to prevent residents from returning to their city."
Meanwhile, SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi on Monday expressed dismay that the incident took place despite Kurdish families returning to Sari Kani amid what was supposed to have been in "coordination with the Syrian state."
Abdi called on "the Kurdish street" to "exercise self-restraint, refrain from being drawn into any irresponsible acts, and safeguard our civil and security institutions," while acknowledging their "angry reactions."
Sari Kani, a Kurdish-majority town, fell to Turkey and Syrian armed groups in 2019 following an extensive military campaign that forced Kurdish forces to withdraw. An estimated 200,000 residents were displaced to other Kurdish-held areas in Rojava following the takeover.
Properties belonging to displaced Kurdish families in Sari Kani were subsequently seized by Arab settlers and armed factions deployed in the city, with some settlers refusing to relinquish the properties and others demanding significant sums of money.
The Monday incident has sparked protests in Kurdish-majority regions in Syria, namely Qamishli and Hasaka, as well as the northwestern city of Kobane.
