Special/Geostrategic Studies Team
The dictatorial regime, through its Fourth Division, continues a severe siege on the camps that shelter displaced Kurds from Afrin in the areas of Al-Shahba and the Kurdish neighborhoods in the city of Aleppo. This division practices bullying, threats, and blackmail to put pressure on civilians and obtain gains from the Autonomous Administration in northern and eastern Syria/Rojava.
Moreover, Kurdish civilians suffer from difficult living conditions and their need for heating and the delivery of fuel to the region, in addition to wheat for mills and other necessary life supplies that do not reach the camps except in very small quantities, due to what the regime’s Fourth Division imposes on the region.
The areas of Al-Shahba and the Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud in Aleppo are under the control of the Autonomous Administration, which is led by Kurdish fighters in partnership with Arab tribes and other components, and hundreds of thousands of displaced people from Afrin live in them. By carrying out these actions, the Syrian regime is trying to obtain shares of the oil, gas, and wheat that it controls. Syrian Democratic Forces. However, the presence of security squares for the Syrian regime in the Autonomous Administration areas in the Al-Hasakah and Qamishli points was an incentive for the Autonomous Administration forces to react and impose a siege on them during the past periods after the harassment carried out by the Fourth Division in Aleppo and around the Al-Shahba area.
Winner of suffering
It may be of great benefit to Turkey to empty the areas of al-Shahba of displaced Kurds so that there will be no attempts to return these Kurdish civilians to Afrin after continuing to establish the process of demographic change that it conducted, according to which it emptied more than 366 villages, 7 districts, and the city of Afrin of its Kurdish residents, and settled nearly half a million. Of the Arabs and military groups affiliated with the Turkish occupation army there, in addition to placing the reins in the hands of Turkmen militants who were gathered from other Syrian regions with a prior agreement between the Turkish and Iranian regimes. In addition to the Turkish occupation, the Syrian regime finds the Kurdish areas in Aleppo and Al-Shahba helpful in exerting pressure on the Autonomous Administration and obtaining gains.
There is no doubt that the size of the agreements concluded between Turkish intelligence and the Syrian regime in managing this operation is for the benefit of both parties.
The resistance continues, but for how long?
The resistance shown by the forcibly displaced people in the Al-Shahba areas and their insistence on staying may be a way to wait for their return to their villages and towns in Afrin, but the international circumstances, the prolonged period of stay, and the lack of solutions on the horizon, in addition to the suffering they face daily, are a real reason for cutting off hope, or at least taking... The way to migrate outside the region, and this may be the main reason for reducing the number of people inside the civilian camps in Al-Shahba and their heading abroad. Which requires radical solutions, not temporary ones, and this is what the circumstances require of the Autonomous Administration to make more efforts in reconstruction and economic development, building small projects, and providing the necessary financial capabilities to provide the necessary support, and prevent corruption, spoilers, and merchants in manipulating prices, etc.
Without real development in the areas of Al-Shahba and Sheikh Maqsoud, conditions will not help the remaining civilians cling to survival, because the suffering is constantly increasing, especially in light of the prolongation of the crisis.
