ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The return of displaced Kurdish families to their homes in Syria's northern town of Sare Kani (Ras al-Ain) awaits the completion of landmine clearance, a local official said on Tuesday.
Sare Kani, a Kurdish-majority town, fell to Turkey and its Syrian proxies in 2019 following an extensive military campaign that forced Kurdish forces to withdraw. A recent agreement between the Kurdish administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) and the new government in Damascus has given the displaced families hope of return.
The return of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) "depends on re-opening roads and clearing landmines," Abdullah al-Jash'am, the chief Damascus-appointed administrator of Sare Kani, told Rudaw's Nalin Hassan on Tuesday.
He cited interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's "promise" to end displacement in the country by the end of 2026.
"The Syrian defense ministry has been working for over a month to remove mines in the area," Jash'am noted, adding that the area is "heavily mine and very dangerous."
An influx of around 200,000 residents of Sare Kani were forced to flee to other Kurdish-held areas in Rojava after the city came under Turkish control.
During the Syrian Civil War (2011-2024), multiple control forces and factions had laid landmines, booby traps, and improvised explosive devices as the city changed hands - first to the Islamic State, then to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and later to the Turkish military and its aligned militias.
Jash'am explained that Syrian defense forces have already completed "about 40 to 50 percent" of the demining, saying that "once it is declared safe," a delegation from Damascus will arrive in the city to initiate the return.
The seventh clause of the January agreement between Damascus and the SDF emphasized the voluntary return of displaced individuals to their homes. It also indicated the creation of a "Presidential Delegation" to facilitate the process.
The statement comes as the final batch of IDPs from Afrin, another Kurdish city that came under the rule of the Turkish army and its Syrian proxies in 2018, returned to their homes in mid-July, ending a seven-year-long displacement crisis that displaced around 10,000 Kurdish families from the city.
Similar to Afrin, the properties of the displaced Kurdish families in Sare Kani were taken by Arab settlers and armed factions deployed in the city, with some settlers refusing to hand back the properties and others demanding significant amounts of money.
Commenting on the matter, the chief administrator of Sare Kani said they will "closely monitor" the issue.
"Whenever someone comes and states their land is being held by another individual, we immediately follow up," he said.
He added that 300 families out of 12,000 have already returned to Sare Kani.
"Everyone who has returned to Ras al-Ain received rent payments for their lands from previous seasons," Jash'am noted.
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