ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Thousands of Kurds, previously displaced from Afrin, are stuck in their cars and on roads while trying to leave the Shahba area of Aleppo province as Turkey-backed militants ramp up their attacks in a bid to take the area from Kurdish forces, a local source told Rudaw on Monday.
One of the individuals told Rudaw that they have been stuck on the way near a cement factory and near Ahdas area since late Sunday
Exclusive footage obtained by Rudaw shows a large number of cars and numerous people stuck on a road without heating despite freezing weather.
The local source called on relevant authorities to open the way for them.
Hundreds of thousands of people, mostly Kurds, fled their hometown of Afrin in 2018 in the face of a military operation by Turkey and its Syrian proxies, residing in Shahba and other Kurdish-held areas.
Syrian troops, who controlled bordering areas of Shahba, withdrew from the area earlier this week as the regime forces were being defeated in western Aleppo by a coalition of militant groups spearheaded by the Jihadist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
