Destruction in Al-Qasimiya in Tel Tamr countryside summarizes tragedy of displacement

Displaced young men living in the city of Tel Tamr returned to their village, located about 7 kilometers northwest of the city, after years of forced displacement caused by the Turkish occupation offensive and its military presence in the area at the end of 2019. During that period, the village was occupied and later turned into positions for mercenaries, in addition to serving as a protection line for the Turkish base located to the west.

Following the January 29 agreement, Turkish-backed mercenaries withdrew from several villages in the Tel Tamr countryside, allowing a group of residents to temporarily return to their village, Qasimiya Sma’ila, which had been home to more than 30 families from the Sma’ila tribe, only to find it destroyed and empty of life.

Upon entering the village, the displaced residents began filming and documenting the destruction. The mercenary groups that had been stationed there had deliberately destroyed homes and looted their contents. While moving through the alleys, they recorded scenes of the ruined houses, documenting each home by the name of its displaced owner in an attempt to preserve the memory of the place and its people.

Al-Qasimiya was not the only village to suffer this fate. The occupied city of Sere Kaniye and its countryside witnessed widespread looting and deliberate destruction of homes. Video footage shows that most houses were left with nothing but crumbling walls without roofs, a scene that captures the scale of devastation caused by the war and silently tells the story of displacement and loss.

A-H 

ANHA