Thousands of Syrian fled from the town of Syria in order to escape the raging battles in North and South Syria. The battle had begun since the past few days and had been going on raging. As reporters and rescuers said, with the striking in the besieged zone, a number of people fled to the eastern part of Ghouta near Damascus.
As reported by the monitor and Syrian Kurdish forces, a number of people moved out of the northern region of Arian when the Turkish war planes started striking the main town. The Kurdish senior further added that more than 150000 people had fled out of the town with the beginning of the war. The two teams involved in the war are Syrian army with the support of Russian forces, and Turkish forces in ally with Syrian rebels.
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The battle between the two forces is a result of the reshaping of the map due to the foreign forces and its allies in the country, which happened after defeat of the country’s ‘self-proclaimed’ Caliphate. The cross border fight was launched by Turkey earlier this year in January against the Kurdish YPG forces, which controlled the northern Afrin region. Finally after a month-long struggle, the officials of Syria marched into Damascus of eastern Ghouta where the major insurgent bastion is situated.
Syrian News: Bombardment leads to several deaths
Eastern Ghouta
In the seven year long war, the troops entered into the three different besieged zones of eastern Ghouta. Thousands of locals finally came out for the first time this week to escape this major long war from the Southern region of town Hammouriyeh. As reported by a state news channel, about 30000 people started fleeing out of their residents and reached to army for the support. People of Harasta zone were also a part of these civilians.
One of the footages of the state TV show, showed a number of men, women and children walking on the dirty roads, struggling with their bags. They were also carrying children, while the elderly people were also seen struggling while walking with their wooden sticks. 30 people were killed due to air strikes in Zamalka, as stated by the UK based monitoring group, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Damascus had allied with Moscow and aimed at attacking the militants in order to end the rule of Islamist insurgents in the region of Syria. The rebels also accused Damascus of attempting to depopulate the opposition towns and then deny the charges of not allowing the people to move out.
The United Nations also probed into the matter and added that the exact number and the destinations of the people fleeing out is yet unknown. It further said that open mobile clinics were organized and the injured people were taken to the hospital in the capital.
Statement of the Syria officials
Alan Ibrahim, the governor of rural Damascus also came up and said that new centres were being set up around the town in order to help the crowd. He said within a very short period of time the crowd or the evacuees would return back to their homes. He further added, “As the army advances … we will return the citizens to their homes … then we will continue providing services.”
The officer in charge of the arriving people in Adra reported that about 25000 people were dispersed by the authorities who arrived in the past few days. All these people were taking shelter in the schools of the two nearby towns where they received food, water, medicines and other basic necessities.
The boys and men aged 15-60 years were made to write vows in order to ‘settle their affairs’. The vow included, “I pledge not to return to armed actions.”
The state has also extended its help to all those who accepted the rule, even to the enclaves seized with the help of Russian jets and Iranian militants.
Another witness of the incident, Khaled Hamad a shepherd of Hammouriyeh who escaped the town with his kids and wife added that he also signed a pledge. He said, “They said now we were within the state’s embrace”. The conditions were so challenging that he and his family had to live on his cow’s food. He further added that now after signing the vow, they get sufficient food. He also recalled an incident in Ghouta where his brother was killed by the forces, who also injured his sons. The forces attacked the innocents who attempted to escape the situation.
Conditions in Afrin
12000-16000 people had escaped from eastern Ghouta while 48000 people were displaced in Afrin town on Saturday as reported by a U.N aid official in Syria. The Syrian YPG military was also pushed back by Turkish forces and encircled around the eastern and western flanks of Afrin town. YPG is often seen by Ankara as the extension of the outlawed Kurdish PKK which is the reason for a decade long war.
As addressed by Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish president to AK Party, ruling party of the Congress, “We can enter Afrin (town) any second. We can give you the good news any minute. Conquest is close. We walk towards that aim.”
Kurdish authorities and Observatory had reported that soon after the overnight Turkish air and artillery strikes, thousands of people managed to move out and escape from their respective towns and cities, in foot or car.
The senior civil officer, Hevi Mustafa added that these evacuees left the main town and entered the regions under the territory of government or held by Kurdish authorities. She also added that many people had to stay on the streets. The Turkish militaries were accused of striking a hospital on Saturday which was denied by it. The concerned forces that it had taken up a campaign and no civilians were hurt in this. The YPG and Observatory added that in this striking, about 16 people were killed in the hospital.
The media adviser of YPG and a state TV, Rezan Heddo said that government control had also extended its help to the towns of Nubul and Zahraa.
The people walking on foot described the journey to be harsh and ‘catastrophic’. Heddo added, “Inside the town, there is no water, there are no hospitals. There are civilians under the rubble and no capacity to get them out.”
