Tel Qerah.. From mercenaries’ stronghold to symbol of resistance

AL-SHAHBA / TULIN HASSAN

The residents of Afrin left their homes on 18 March and headed to the villages and towns of al-Shahba canton after the Turkish aggression on Afrin canton using the air force, artillery and tanks.

Among the villages in which the residents of Afrin stationed and turned it into a symbol of resistance was Tel-Qerah village where the residents were allowed to stay there after being cleaned of the mines by the Humanitarian Safety Organization for clearing mines and the revolutionary forces.

The village was a center of terror and intimidation in 2015 when it was under the occupation of IS. It was the theater of field executions and the separation of the heads from the body, but soon, it was liberated and turned into a symbol of resistance.

Tel Qerah village that is located in al-Ahdath district of al-Shahba canton and has a population of 2,477 according to the 2004 census was considered one of the most destroyed places by the mercenary gangs during the years of the Syrian crisis.

Tel- Qerah before liberation

On October 9, 2015, IS gangs broke into the village after shelling the village with shells and send booby-trapped vehicle that was exploded in the village and killed 3 children and 10 women as well as wounded dozens of civilians.

As soon as IS mercenaries entered the village, they executed the imam of the village’s mosque Mohammed Tabsho on charges of collaborating with Jabhet al-Nusra mercenaries as well as 40 mercenaries from the mercenary factions.

Tel Qerah village was taken as a basic stronghold to IS gangs in Mare’ strategic district as the site of the village overlooks a number of al-Shahba villages and it is considered one of the highest points in the area.

The mercenaries evacuated the village from its inhabitants on the grounds that it was a military zone and fortified their points in the vicinity of the village and dug tunnels in its vicinity.

Hundreds of villagers fled to  Afrin canton during their occupation by IS, as well as hundreds of families who had been displaced from the village since 2012 after the control of the mercenary gangs such as al-Tawhid Brigade and Jabhet al-Nusra and the start of looting, robbery, murder and kidnapping operations against its people.

On October 25, 2016, the joint revolutionary factions in al-Shahba canton, with the support of the People Protection Units (YPG), launched a military campaign to cleanse the village of the mercenary factions which constituted a major turning point at the military level. After fierce battles, the strategic village was liberated from IS mercenaries.

In the campaign to liberate the village, the fighters of the revolutionary factions offered heroic resistance where IS gangs received harsh blows in the village. At the time of the liberation, the mercenaries had left racist slogans on the walls of the village and destroyed the village’s mosque after they had stationed there.

Mohammed al-Khater from Tel-Qerah talked about his family and his suffering as a result of the occupation of his village by the mercenaries and said, "We were displaced to Afrin city due to egregious violations practiced by Jabhet al-Nusra and IS gangs and other gangs against us. We stayed in Kora village in Janders area, and I had worked there for five years until the date of the Turkish aggression on Afrin canton as I returned to my village with my brothers and sisters of Afrin canton's people."

Tel Qerah after liberation

It was not easy to leave the village of Tal Qerah, leaving thousands of mines planted in all the houses in the village, and because no specialized team was available to dismantle the mines, the village was considered a military zone for the safety of the residents.

1,499 families of Afrin are living in the village and they have formed 8 communes to manage their affairs relying on their resistance. In addition, a service committee was established to provide service needs which mainly contributed to supply electricity through the distribution of amperes, the distribution of water through tanks and repair of the roads.

A popular market is opened every Saturday, and al-Hall Market (vegatable market), along with the reconstruction of the destroyed buildings and homes, benefiting from the most basic means available to them to rehabilitate their infrastructure and houses.

Two schools for the three stages were opened and hundreds of students frequent to them.

It is worth mentioning that 100 families of the original residents of Tel Qerah returned to it after the return of life to the village as a result of its rehabilitation by Afrin people who forcibly exited their homes.

The people said that they live together in the spirit of the Resistance to the Age and that their fate is one, whether they are in Afrin or outside it. Their choice is resistance until victory would be achieved and the expulsion of the occupier."

The co-chair of al-Ahdath Council Balda Sheikho said, "The village is considered one of the largest and most devastated villages, but the villagers’ continuation of their resistance and reconstruction has turned it form a stronghold to a symbol of resistance."

(T/S)

ANHA