Turkey, Russia start joint patrols in northern Syria
November 1, 2019
Turkish and Russian troops are jointly patrolling a Syrian region under a deal that halted a Turkish incursion against Kurdish fighters. The patrols aim to check that all fighters have moved back from the Turkish border.
The patrols aim to ensure the fighters have withdrawn and to secure the area. Russia has previously said the withdrawal is complete.
Fighting 'terrorists'
The deal halted a Turkish offensive that began last month against the Kurdish fighters, whom Ankara considers to be terrorists linked to a Kurdish rebellion within Turkey. Turkish forces entered the area after US President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of US troops from the region earlier in October. The US decision was widely criticized, with many experts saying it left the Kurdish fighters, who had been top US allies in the fight against extremist group "Islamic State" within Syria, at the mercy of a Turkish incursion.
Erdogan said on Wednesday that the troops would patrol to a depth of 7 kilometers inside Syrian territory. A ministry statement from Tuesday said the deal on the patrols excluded the city of Qamishli.
Syrian civilians bear the brunt of Turkey's offensive
Those displaced by the fighting in northeast Syria are trying to survive in abandoned schools and houses. International NGOs have left and people queue for bread for hours. The few remaining doctors are overwhelmed.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
A first stop
UN sources say over 200,000 people have been internally displaced in Syria's northeast since Turkey launched its offensive on October 9. So far, the border town of Ras al-Ayn has paid the highest toll in the wake of a joint attack by Turkish militias and airstrikes. The city will remain under Turkish control following a deal struck in Sochi between Russia and Turkey.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
'We've lost everything'
A majority of those who have fled are reportedly Kurds. Those civilians remaining in the city are mostly Arabs who are still in touch by phone with their former neighbors. "They told me yesterday that the Islamists were looting our house. We've lost everything," this man told DW.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
Every crumb helps
The regime forces are stationed just a few kilometers away from Tal Tamr. As a result international NGOs formerly based in the area have fled over the past few days. Internally displaced people (IDPs) from Ras al-Ayn and the neighboring villages rely on the work of local NGOs who are struggling to cope with the crisis.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
Not enough to go around
Apart from Tal Tamr, other villages in the vicinity are also hosting hundreds of displaced people who rely on local NGOs. "They're settling in empty villages, many of them too close to other locations controlled by either the Turkish-backed militias or 'Islamic State' sleeper cells," Hassan Bashir, a local NGO coordinator, told DW.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
Food, glorious food
This Arab IDP from Ras al-Ayn has four wives but will struggle to get enough to feed all their children as local NGOs say they can only allocate a single food ration per family. "It's not their fault, they're just children," he told DW, after being given a single bag of food rations.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
School's out — forever?
Schools have remained shut across Syria's northeast since the beginning of the offensive and several of them are now hosting IDPs from Ras al-Ayn. Those who can afford it will move to cities like Al-Hasakah, around 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the south, but others will have to cope with the dire conditions in a border city that faces further attacks from the north.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
The closest thing to home
50 Kurdish families from Ras al-Ayn are now living in this abandoned school in Tal Tamr lacking both water and electricity. As the sanitary conditions deteriorate, local doctors and the hospital in Tal Tamr fear an outbreak of cholera and other diseases. "If we continue like this we'll have to get set for a huge humanitarian crisis," a local doctor told DW.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
Sick and stranded
Although the hospital in Tal Tamr is treating the wounded, it cannot help those suffering from diseases such as cancer.Two IDPs told DW that they were supposed to receive chemotherapy in Damascus before the offensive started, but that the current security situation makes it impossible for them to get there.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
A different type of playground
The Christian village of Tell Nasri on the outskirts of Tal Tamr had remained empty since IS took over the area. The majority of its former inhabitants left during the IS siege when the militants destroyed the churches with explosives before the fall of the Caliphate. With nowhere else to go, several IDP families from Ras al-Ayn are now settling in Tell Nasri.
Image: DW/K. Zurutuza
Living on a prayer
These boys are among dozens stranded in Tell Nasri but the dire living conditions are the least of their problems. Just before this picture was taken, settlers told DW that they had been attacked from a neighboring village reportedly in the hands of Islamists. "They started shooting at us and we engaged [with them] for over an hour," a fighter with the Syrian Democratic Forces told DW.
