200,000 people displaced from Shahba

Shahba area for 6 years, it has been on the agendas of the region and the world, after the attacks of the Turkish occupation state and its mercenaries against the city of Afrin in 2018, thousands of Afrin residents were forced to be forcibly displaced to the areas of Shahba and Tal Rifaat. The villages and towns of Shahba, Tal Rifaat and the camps were equipped by the Democratic Autonomous Administration, and some of them went to the city of Aleppo.

After Turkey's occupation of Afrin on March 18, 2018, more than 300,000 people were displaced and lived in the camps of "Sardam, Barkhadan, Afrin, Al-Awda and Shahba" established in Afrin and Shahba Canton.

More than 200,000 displaced people lived in the Shahba area, which includes four cities (Tal Rifaat, Akhar, Hadath, and Favin) and 40 villages and towns belonging to the four cities. Which was besieged from three sides by the mercenaries of the Turkish occupation state and the Damascus government.

The forcibly displaced people of Afrin continued their struggle and resistance against the Turkish occupation.

In the latest statistics of the people of Afrin who lived in the 5 camps, as follows: (In the first camp, Barkhdan camp, there are 702 families with 2,772 members. In Sardam camp, there are 904 families consisting of 3,774 members. While in Afrin camp, there were 122 families with 498 members. In Al-Awda camp, there were 145 families consisting of 584 members. In Shahba camp, 104 families live, comprising 466 members.

According to statistics, the number of residents in the five Shahba camps reached 8094 people, and the rest of the displaced Afrin lived in the villages and towns of Shahba and Tal Rifaat.

Barkhdan camp also had a Red Crescent centre, a market, a library and schools providing education to primary, preparatory and secondary students. These schools are attended by children living in the camp, as well as children from nearby areas and villages. Sardam camp contains a Red Crescent centre, a library, a market and a school for primary school students.

Recent attacks

After the attacks of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham mercenaries on November 26 on the Aleppo and Idlib region, the Shahba area was encircled from all sides. On December 1, the mercenaries of the Turkish occupation state launched attacks on the area of Shahba and Tal Rifaat, where the Afrin liberation forces repelled these attacks and showed great resistance, and this resistance continues.

The displaced people of Afrin withstood until the last breath in the face of Turkish attacks. After that, the Afrin and Shahba People's Council made an urgent statement to the public, stating: "The Turkish state and its mercenaries attacked the area of Tal Rifaat and Shahba, and during the past 2 days, the Afrin Liberation Forces showed great resistance in order to protect us, and so that our people are not subjected to massacres and innocent people are not killed. We decided of our own volition to get out of the area that was surrounded by mercenaries of the Turkish state."

The Council affirmed: "We would like to emphasize that our departure from the Shahba area does not mean that we have dispensed with our struggle for the liberation of Afrin, but that, as we endured all the difficult conditions during the past years in tents and in the open, we will continue our struggle stronger from now on."

After the council's statement, residents of the area went out in convoys. 

Sh-S

ANHA