ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The eighth and final convoy of displaced residents from the Kurdish city of Afrin in northeast Syria (Rojava) has returned home, a security official from the Kurdish-led enclave told Rudaw on Wednesday, marking the end of a displacement crisis that affected around 8,720 families and lasted nearly a decade.
“With the departure of this convoy, the displacement of Afrin’s residents in the Jazira region [which encompasses areas east of the Euphrates River] will come to an end,” said Mahmoud Khalil, also known as Syamend Efrin, deputy head of security for the Kurdish-majority Hasaka province in Rojava.
In a separate post on X, Khalil described the returns as “a historic milestone that closes one of the most painful chapters of displacement endured by the people of Afrin over nearly nine years.” He added that approximately 8,720 families have returned to Afrin.
Families from Afrin have endured multiple waves of displacement since first fleeing the city during a Turkish-backed offensive in 2018. Many were displaced again in late 2024 following the collapse of the regime of longtime Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
They were forced to flee once more earlier this year amid clashes between Syrian state forces affiliated with the new leadership in Damascus and allied armed groups on one side, and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - the de facto army of Rojava - on the other.
Speaking to Rudaw en route to her hometown, Zaynab Hama, a displaced resident of Afrin, said, “I will kiss the doorstep of my home, then I will kiss my olive trees.”
Meanwhile, another returnee, Nazifa Rashid, said tearfully, “Everyone should go back to their own home and their own region, oh God. I weep for these people; why did it have to come to this?”
Damascus and the SDF reached a landmark agreement to end the fighting on January 29, with significant mediation from then US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack and political leaders from the Kurdistan Region. The deal paved the way for the return of displaced persons, including those from Afrin.
Hawar News Agency, a media outlet affiliated with the Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) in Rojava, reported that the latest convoy "consisted of 1,700 displaced families who had been residing in Hasaka.”
