ERBIL, Kurdistan Region— Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) is in a “dire state” as Turkish-backed groups continue to loot and destroy what remains in the Syrian border town.
“The situation in Sari Kani is very bad. The civilians who return are detained and put under investigation for four to five days. All the shops in the city have been looted and destroyed. Many of the houses of the people have been burned,” Orhan Kamal, a Kurdish journalist displaced from Sari Kani, told Rudaw on Wednesday.
Sari Kani and Gire Spi (Tel Abyad) have borne the brunt of Turkey’s Spring” invasion of Kurdish-controlled Northern Syria, dubbed “Operation Peace Spring” which was launched on October 9.
The town, home to Kurds, Arabs and Christians was fully evacuated on October 20 after nearly two weeks of stiff resistance put up by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)
Currently, both Gire Spi and Sari Kani are under the control of Turkey and its allies. However, Turkish-backed Syrian proxy groups have continued looting and committing crimes against civilians, which started soon after their entry into the town.
“They [Turkish-backed Syrian proxies] have taken many houses as their headquarters. They have made many houses into prisons, where they torture people. In the villages around the town, they use the same method,” Kamal added.
Kamal identified the factions currently in control of Sari Kani as the Sultan Murad Brigades, Hamzah Divisions, and the Deir ez-Zor natives Ahrar a-Sharqiyah.
“In the villages to the west [of Sari Kani], Yezidi villages of Jan Tamir and Shakariyah have been thoroughly looted and destroyed. No agricultural machinery of the people has been left, all are stolen. They stole all the diesel there,” added Kamal.
Kamal claimed that Sari Kani town had 400,000 liters of diesel as reserves in its gas stations. Those were all reportedly stolen and transported first to Gire Spi, and then to Turkey.
According to UK-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a warehouse storing looted fuel from Sari Kani exploded on Wednesday, injuring and killing members of the Sultan Murad brigades.
SOHR also reported on November 13 that the Turkish-backed factions have stolen grain silos containing wheat to take to Turkey, leading to a severe bread shortage in the city.
Describing the conditions of the town as “catastrophic”, SOHR claimed that the Syrian proxies have started dividing up the town among themselves.
Houses have been confiscated by each faction, who stake their claim to the property through graffiti sprawled on the walls of empty homes.
Rudaw has obtained a video from a Kurdish home-owner who has fled the city. His Arab neighbour captured footage of his property after it was ransacked.
In the video, captured shortly after Turkish-backed groups overtook the town, the house seems to be in disarray.
SOHR has called on the the international community to help the residents of Sari Kani.
“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights renews its calls to the international community and relevant organizations to immediately intervene to save what is left of the people of Ras al-Ayn in their cities and stop the series of violations that the factions among the Syrian National Army are committing," said SOHR.
According to SOHR, Turkish-backed groups are intentionally intimidating the remaining residents to push them out of Sari Kani.
They also bring their people to “settle” the area with their families to change the demographics of the area, claimed SOHR.
Kurdish-led forces have previously warned that a genocide will take place in Sari Kani.
Fuad Aliko, a high ranking member of the Kurdish National Council (ENKS), a member of the Syrian opposition coalition, has lambasted the Syrian proxies for their looting and behavior.
“There is no such thing as the ‘National Army’. Every faction receives orders from Turkish leadership and invade areas, and loot and steal the people’s property, which they deem permissible for themselves. These are mercenaries,” Aliko said, as quoted by SOHR.
The practices of the Syrian proxies of Turkey looks very similar to what they have been doing in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in Northwestern Syria.
Turkey, in early 2018, launched the “Olive Branch” invasion of the Kurdish enclave. Kurdish forces in March retreated to prevent the war from entering Afrin city itself.
Over 200,000 Kurds were displaced, with Syrian Arabs from Eastern Ghouta and elsewhere resettled in their place.
A host of crimes, including property confiscation, kidnappings for ransom, and killings have been rampant in Afrin since the takeover.
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