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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The planned return of 800 displaced families to Sare Kani (Ras al-Ayn) in northeast Syria (Rojava) has been postponed indefinitely following Monday’s attack on a Kurdish IDP convoy in nearby Gire Spi (Tel Abyad), Sare Kani’s Displaced Persons Committee announced Wednesday.
The delay leaves families who have waited more than seven years to return home uncertain about when they can leave displacement camps, where the lack of livelihood opportunities and basic services have constituted a difficult life.
Awash Khato, a displaced woman from Sare Kani, told Rudaw's Vivian Fetah that she could barely afford food as she waited for the next convoy. “I don’t even have the money to buy a loaf of bread. Nothing is left, we have nothing,” she told Rudaw.
“I bought it today on credit,” she said.
Khato said she had hoped to return home, where she would have shelter and food, but armed men were occupying her house.
“We have nothing to eat, we died of hunger. We died of thirst. What can we do? We are also Muslims,” she said. “They say, ‘Go back to your homes.’ So I say, ‘Oh my Lord, why has this befallen us?’”
The postponement comes amid growing fears among displaced families following violence during the attempted return of Kurdish residents to Gire Spi earlier this week.
Returning residents reported that mobs attacked their convoy and damaged dozens of vehicles, with more than 200 people trapped inside a government building for hours before security forces evacuated them.
Khato questioned how families could return safely without protection, citing reports that the previous convoy had been looted and burned.
"How can people return like this? If the roads aren’t opened and we aren’t accompanied by our soldiers, how can we possibly go back? To be at the mercy of armed men?" she asked.
Despite the postponement, the Sare Kani’s Displaced Persons Committee told Rudaw that the decision was due to regulatory and procedural measures, rather than security incidents that have alarmed prospective returnees.
Amal Ahmed, another displaced woman from Sare Kani, said the violence had left families apprehensive about making the journey.
“After what happened in Gire Spi, panic spread among the people. No one wants to return anymore, and we don’t know what to do,” she stated, noting that some displaced families were returning after the names of residents from rural areas were being called, while those from Sare Kani remained behind.
“We want nothing, except to return,” she said.
The delay prolongs the displacement of families who fled their homes during Turkey’s 2019 military offensive in northeast Syria, which forced thousands of Kurdish residents to flee Sare Kani, Gire Spi and surrounding areas.
Six organized convoys have facilitated the return of 3,181 families to Sare Kani and its surrounding countryside since the program began in August.
