"Four months have passed since the government forces entered, and thousands of armed faction fighters have already left Afrin,” Azad Osman, an Afrin local council member, told Rudaw.
“Only a small number [of militants] remain and will likely depart soon,” Osman noted.
Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch in March 2018, capturing Afrin from the People’s Protection Units (YPG) - the backbone of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - and placing it under the control of Turkish-backed armed groups. Since then, these groups have operated with significant impunity.
With regards to settlers who have confiscated the properties of the Kurdish residents in the region, Osman expected that they would leave Afrin and return back to their areas by the end of the educational year.
“Now we need to form a committee to facilitate the return of remaining displaced persons,” he stressed.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Afrin in mid-February and met with locals, the majority of whom were Kurds. He pledged to remove armed groups and put an end to the violations, a representative from the Kurdish National Council (ENKS/KNC) who attended the meeting told Rudaw at the time.
Kurds have been increasingly returning to Afrin since the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. These Kurds had been displaced to other parts of Syria after Turkey-backed militia groups invaded the Kurdish-majority city. With the militants losing their grip on Afrin to Damascus-affiliated forces, many have been able to return.
No official Syrian government decision has been made to support the return of Afrin’s residents. Some families come back on their own, while others return through aid from the ENKS, a coalition of Kurdish political parties that is considered the main opposition in northeast Syria (Rojava). The umbrella group, which used to be part of the Turkey-backed anti-Assad opposition, has had an office in Afrin for years.
SDF chief Mazloum Abdi signed a landmark deal with Sharaa in March to integrate the SDF into the state apparatus. Along with recognizing Kurds as an integral part of Syria and establishing a nationwide ceasefire, the agreement also included the facilitation of the return of displaced people to their homes.
