Kurdish families forced back to camps after Sare Kani attack

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Some Kurdish families from Sare Kani (Ras al-Ain) in northeast Syria (Rojava) were forced back to displacement camps after armed assailants attacked them as they attempted to return home. Local officials tell Rudaw that those who managed to stay in the town now need protection, as an uneasy calm holds.

Bahiyah Ahmed returned to her displacement camp in Rojava's Hasaka province in dismay. She had set out for Sare Kani with the first convoy of returning Kurdish families on Monday, but the convoy came under attack from armed assailants, forcing the families to turn back.

Ahmed told Rudaw's Vivyan Fatah that she made it as far as her house, but was not able to step inside. "They destroyed our entire house - no doors, no windows. They even ripped out the tiles and everything else," she said.

Despite this, Ahmed said the families still want their homes back, so they "can return and live in peace."

Sare Kani and its surrounding areas fell under the control of the Turkish army and allied Syrian armed groups after an October 2019 offensive, forcing some 200,000 Kurds to flee as armed groups and settlers seized their properties.

“This sacrifice is for a cause - for the [Kurdish] nation. I have spent eight years in the camp, but I do not regret it. It is all for the Kurdish cause,” Ahmed stressed.

Monday's return effort followed a January 29 agreement between Damascus and Rojava, reached after weeks of deadly fighting. The deal established a permanent ceasefire and set out the gradual integration of the Kurdish-led enclave’s military, security, and civil administrative institutions into the Syrian state. It also outlined measures to facilitate the safe return of displaced people to their hometowns.

However, Jwan Iso, a member of the Sare Kani Displaced Persons Committee, told Rudaw that "after Monday's events, it became clear that the situation in Sare Kani is not safe."

"The security, military, and administrative institutions are not carrying out their duties. The truth about those attacks must be revealed, the perpetrators identified and held accountable, and the displaced who managed to return to Sare Kani need protection," Iso emphasized.

The Monday incident sparked protests in at least three Rojava cities - Hasaka, Qamishli, and Kobane - as Kurdish leaders continue to call for restraint on the street. But with provocations ongoing, it remains to be seen how long that calm will hold.