One night in March 2018, when the Turkish army and pro-Syrian factions launched a large-scale attack on the city of Afrin, north of Aleppo, a shell landed on Mamo’s house, causing his roof to collapse and his walls collapsed, while he and his family were there, causing a severe fracture in his foot and arm. He and his wife were forced to flee under the barrage of shells and the intensity of the fighting was damaged by his injuries.He cut off the road on foot despite his condition until he reached the neighboring areas of Al-Shahba. He stayed there until his condition recovered, but his foot was torn and his limbs were broken he became the help of crutches.
“Dust everywhere, the glass of the window shattered and the wall fell on my feet and broke.” With these words, the 30-year-old began his story of leaving his hometown, where he fled to the town of Fafin in Aleppo countryside. I will not forget it as I live, it will remain engraved in my memory. ”
He remained there for nearly three months and due to the siege imposed and the lack of doctors and the absence of specialized hospitals, he decided to move for the second time to the areas of the Syrian Jazeera in the east. The family went to the village of Tal Tamr in the middle of the same year and lived in the village of Tal Nasri, about five kilometers south of Tal Tamr.
With scattered words and a low voice barely heard, Mamo continued: «I lost my land and olive trees, and thank God, after all, we stayed there for about a year and two months, but the Turkish invasion and wars followed us».
On October 9, Turkey and Syria’s armed groups began a military offensive in northeastern Syria, whose fire reached the outskirts of Tall Tamr. Mamo and his family fled for the third time, but this time they chose to seek refuge in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. “I am afraid that we will stay here for months and maybe years,” he said. “The wars do not end. Life here is like living in a closed camp.”
The camp is located in Bard Rush district, 70 km north of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region. It is administratively affiliated to Dohuk governorate. According to its administration, the camp is home to some 2,500 families, estimated to number 11,000 refugees. Even after eight years, the Syrian conflict shows no sign of abating. Bhutan Salahuddin the camp’s director said that Syrian refugees cross the border every day to escape the fighting. “Every day we receive 70 to 100 people, telling us that hundreds of people are on their way to seek refuge,” the camp’s director said. “Safe because of combat operations in their areas.”
Hevidar, 45, from Afrin, was sitting under her tent, but her tears preceded her mixed words of sadness and oppression. She said with sorrow: “Since the Turkish attack on my city, we have not known the taste of safety and stability. One year and eight months we are moving from one place to another », her family has moved to the areas of Shahba, and because of the ongoing combat operations in the vicinity of the region they went to the city of Manbij, the latter remained threatened by military invasion since Turkey and Syrian factions took control of the city of Afrin and several areas in Aleppo northern countryside, they ended up living in the city of Ain al-Arab (Kobani).
“When they launched an attack on Sere Kaniye, the situation became tense and all Kobani residents fled. We went out with them and the world narrowed us to the areas of the island,” she says. She said: «We displaced eight times in 20 months, exhausted, fatigued and travel a lot, finally decided to resort to Kurdistan and escape from certain death».
The camp is crowded with thousands of Kurdish refugees who have fled their areas in northeastern Syria, with the Turkish army and Syrian factions advancing in many parts of the border strip, accusing Turkey of preventing any form of Kurdish rule and working to bring refugees from various parts of Syria, instead of The Kurds in Afrin and their areas in Jazeera and Kobani in an effort to change the demography of the region.
The family of Ramzieh, 53, from Bulbula, west of Afrin, was separated by the Turkish attack last year. One of her sons decided to flee to Aleppo and live in Sheikh Maksoud area of the Kurdish forces. Shahba and housing in camps are only a few kilometers from their hometown, and she and her youngest daughters and brother-in-law went to the town of Tal Tamr, and after the recent Turkish attack took refuge in the Kurdistan region and live in the camp «Bard Rash».
During her conversation, she was wearing a traditional costume for Afrin women, but the signs of sadness were on her face and she looked older. To say: «a year and nine months did not meet the rest of my children, my family today divided between three areas separated by the limits of blood», flooded with tears to add: «I want to return to my home and my family and olive trees and the soil of Afrin».
The number of Syrian refugees in the Kurdistan region is about 275 thousand refugees, about 85 thousand refugees live in the camps, where the region includes 9 camps, 4 of which are located in the province of Dohuk, the same number in the capital Erbil, and one camp in the province of Sulaymaniyah, the number increased after the arrival of more than 25 thousand entering the territory.
Source: Middle East – Kamal Sheikho
