Arab families in Syrian villages left in the lurch

Mired in the Syrian conflict, the Syrian Arab families in the village of Husseiniya in Northern Syria are the displaced lot now. The brazen act by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militias has left the villagers homeless and destitute. 

The whole of the village was destroyed and approximately 90 to 95 houses were burned and then they brought the bulldozers and destroyed everything. 

According to the recent report of Amnesty International, the village of Husseiniya in Northern Syria was razed to the ground and the Arab families, who had been living there for decades were ruthlessly driven out of their homes by the YPG, the military wing of the Kurdish political party.

Speaking to DT News from Riyadh, Vice President of the Syrian National Coalition Dr. Hisham Marwa said that the things had been deteriorated. 

The Syrian Coalition fact finding committee had also come to the same conclusion that the YPG militias were committing widespread violations against the civilian population in the area. They demanded that the United Nations should immediately send an international investigation mission to look into the violations.

“The YPG militias have repeatedly threatened the local population to leave their villages or they will give the coordinates of their villages to the international anti-ISIS coalition to bomb on the pretext that ISIS militants are holed up inside these villages,” says the coalition.

Some of them have crossed borders to seek refuge in Southern Turkey while others are displaced in Syria compelled to live at times in schools, camps or with their relatives.

Husseiniya is not the only village that was razed to the ground. Suluk and its southern villages met the same fate where the YPG soldiers entered like the ruthless conquerors and destroyed everything that came in their way. 

Stranded villagers

Basma, whose house was burned in Tel Diyab, asked them to let her set up a tent at her own land where she had lived the whole of her life but she was told to leave.

Basma believes that she was targeted by the YPG because her brother-in-law was the member of the Free Syrian Army brigade, another opposition group the YPG forces are clashing with. 

After her home was burned, she went to Turkey where the Amnesty people met her.

Another victim Inez displaced from Suluk said that they had just made the dinner when the YPG came and asked them to leave. 

Justification

YPG spokesperson Redur Khalil said that when weapons were used the best solution was to move the civilians from the frontline until things settle down or ISIS has been cleared from the area. He said that there was no displacement or premeditated campaigns to push the people from their areas. “In all of the Kurdish areas, there haven’t been more than 25 families displaced,” he said. But his statement didn’t match with what the Amnesty researchers observed there.

Suluk residents tried to come back to get their furniture but the YPG told them “forget Suluk - You don’t have homes here anymore.”