ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Refugees from northern Syria’s Sare Kani (Ras al-Ain) living in a camp in Duhok province are reluctant to return home following an incident on Monday in which returning residents of the town were attacked by gunmen after seven years of displacement.
“Our people and relatives tried to return to their homes after seven years of displacement as they were in a dire condition. However, when they returned yesterday, these issues arose. They were stopped, prevented, and their cars looted. People were terrified,” Nawaf Dakhil, a resident of the Gawilan camp southeast of Duhok, told Rudaw’s Horvan Rafaat.
The residents were displaced in 2019 following a Turkish-led offensive against the town. The first convoy carrying around 400 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had taken refuge in Kurdish-controlled areas of Hasaka province was attacked on Monday by what Sipan Hamo - a Syrian deputy defense minister appointed by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - called “saboteurs.”
At the outset of the 2019 offensive, around 200,000 Kurdish residents fled the area, with properties subsequently confiscated by settlers and armed factions.
Footage obtained by Rudaw showed armed men on motorcycles surrounding a vehicle carrying Kurdish IDPs and striking the car with AK-47 rifle butts, sticks, and stones.
Ahmed al-Hilali, the deputy governor of Hasaka province and a member of the presidential team overseeing the SDF’s integration, told Rudaw on Tuesday that authorities had arrested 13 suspects in connection with the incident and that investigations were ongoing to identify others involved.
But he rejected suggestions that the incident had impeded the return process. “What happened will not become an obstacle to the return process, because the right of return is protected for all citizens and the state is committed to providing this right.”
Adla Khalil, another Sare Kani refugee living in the Gawilan camp, said many refugees from the town are unwilling to return due to the lack of adequate security conditions.
“We cannot go back because there is no security. We are afraid of everything,” she said.
Meanwhile, Imad Osman, the director of Gawilan camp, said 20 families had returned to their homes between late 2024 - when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was deposed - and late 2025.
“But since the beginning of 2026, following the deterioration of security in Rojava, only four families have returned,” he noted.
The Kurdish-led SDF and Damascus signed an agreement in late January following weeks of fierce clashes. The ceasefire agreement has accelerated the integration of Rojava’s civilian and military institutions into the Syrian state system.
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