Monitoring three hours on horror road

In a daily scene, dozens of travelers from the regions of the Euphrates region, Raqqa, Tabqa and Manbij gather early morning in front of the Ain Issa rest house, located directly in the triangle between “Ain Issa Junction, Tal Tamr - Ain Issa - Kobani,” to go to the Jazira Canton.

At 07:30 in the morning, I met a family coming from the city of Kobani, heading to Qamishlo in the Jazira region.

The family consisted of a man in his forties, and his wife who suffers from disc disease, daughter and his 10-year-old child.

Since the attacks of the Turkish occupation state and its mercenaries on Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî (Tal Abyad) on October 9, 2019 and its occupation of parts of northeast Syria near the international road between Tal Tamr and Ain Issa that has been completely cut off for transportation.

This is due to the Turkish mercenaries frequent targeting of cars on this road. Recently, Russia accompanies a daily trip from Ain Issa to Tal Tamr and vice versa, accompanied its armored vehicles to prevent the Turkish side and its linked mercenaries from targeting them.

Despite this, citizens confirm that the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries still attack cars and loot the drivers' money.

After a while, three Russian armored vehicles came to accompany the convoy. One of the armored vehicles was stationed at the front of the convoy and the second at the end, while the third armored itself was crammed into the center of the convoy.

The convoy began its course at about 09:00 in the morning, at a speed of 40 km per hour, in the normal case, it takes about an hour and a half for cars to reach from Ain Issa to Tal Tamr, but now, it takes about three hours.

Fear was evident in the face of the mother, father and daughter alike since the start of the convoy, after ten minutes, we moved away from Ain Issa district, and passed the security forces' points and some points of the Damascus government forces.

We approached the Shirkrak area, which includes the largest base for the Turkish occupation army. It is located directly north of the international road, and there was too much talk about its dangerousness before the convoy moved from Ain Issa.

When approaching the base, the mother began praying to God not to have any misfortune, and her voice became louder and louder, reciting prayers to survive the attacks of the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries.

As for the little boy, he was full of questions, and his father asked: Is ISIS here? Would they really attack us and block the road ahead? What would happen if our car broke down? And other questions he was asking her as a result of hearing stories about road blockages by the occupation army and attacking civilians.

140 km separates Ain Issa from Tal Tamr. This road separates the areas of the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Damascus government from the areas occupied by Turkey and its mercenaries in northeast Syria.

Civilians terms this road as " unknown fate," whoever passes through it does not know whether he will reach his destination or that he will be exposed to attacks by Turkey and its mercenaries and be killed on the road or robbed.

The road was completely out of cars, no one would dare to go through it, the Turkish occupation army bases are located 1 km from the road, and the dirt mounds hide behind them the fortifications and weapons of the occupation army and its mercenaries.

Secondary roads in some parts of the international road were completely closed, such as the junction leading to the occupied city of Girê Spî / Tel Abyad.

Near this junction there is a school about1 km, but the Turkish occupation army took it as a military base, it is one of the largest bases in this region.

Population views the Turkish bases as a threat, because they constantly target cars passing by on the road.

The driver stated that one of the transport trucks coming from the Jazira was robbed on this road by Turkish mercenaries, even though it moved in a convoy accompanied by Russian armored vehicles.

He pointed out that the truck broke down, but the Russian armored vehicles continued on their way and left him behind, and was robbed by Turkish mercenaries.

Such an incident is constantly repeated with the convoys that cross the road accompanied by Russian armored vehicles, as other drivers said that Turkish mercenaries had armed drivers and merchants who crossed this road, but the Russian armored vehicles accompanying them did not intervene.

What caught my attention during the course of the convoy was that the Russian armored vehicle that was leading the convoy reduced its speed when it reached close to the Turkish bases, although it was traveling at a speed of 40 km, but it was reducing the speed to less than that near each base.

The family I was accompanying said, “It seems that the Russians intend to scare the citizens through such movements,” while the others asked why the movement was slowed when reaching the Turkish points.

After walking three hours on the M4 international road between Ain Issa and Tal Tamr, and the travelers prayed continuously, we arrived at Tal Tamr.

The M4 International Road was established in 1950, and in 1980 this road became the link between Turkey, Iraq and Syria with the Mediterranean coasts, and the international road extends from the Iraqi borders, starting from the town of Tal Koçber / Al-Yarubiyah and passing through the city of Qamishlo, then to Tal Tamr and Ain Issa, from there to Manbij and Aleppo, and in Idlib, it meets the M5 international road.

(A)

ANHA