- Title: Displaced Kurds flee Syria homes after Turkish offensive
- Date: 22nd October 2019
- Summary: HASAKAH, SYRIA (OCTOBER 22, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DISPLACED KURDISH CHILDREN IN SCHOOL COURTYARD SCHOOL FENCE / PEOPLE IN COURTYARD CHILDREN IN SCHOOL HALLWAY CHILD'S DRAWING ON WALL WOMAN AND CHILDREN IN HALLWAY VARIOUS OF SLEEPING CHILDREN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED KURD, AMINA MOHAMED, SAYING: "The bombing started at 4 o'clock. I went to my family's, I stayed there for 15 days. After 15 days they hit the villages. After the bombing I came to my husband, he is a fighter here in Hasakah. He came and took me on a bike. I came on the bike. My children were crying, and he was looking for us in Hasakah. He couldn't find us. He was out from the morning to the afternoon. I took phones from people and tried to call him. After he found us, the rescue car came and brought us here." BOY SEATED FAMILY SEATED, YOUNG CHILD CRYING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED KURD, JAMILA MUSTAFA, SAYING: "We were sitting at home. Everything was fine. We were sitting, and we saw the planes soaring above us. I was alone, my house was on the border. I was visiting my mother. We fled and went to find my husband. We fled and spent two days on the street, until they told us there was a school here. They brought us here to Hasakah." CHILDREN DRINKING WATER FROM CONTAINER LITTLE GIRL STANDING BESIDE BENCH BOY CARRYING YOUNG CHILD CLOTHES HANGING OUT TO DRY CHILDREN BEHIND GATES IN SCHOOL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AID WORKER, BERIVAN KHALIL, SAYING: "Our organizations are local. If they work at the schools, they are locals. Our resources are very scarce. We don't have capabilities that, as one would say, are strong. We want help from international organizations. Our organizations are local and few. After a while, they will stop operating." BOY PUTTING DOWN YOUNG CHILD / YOUNG CHILD WALKING AWAY CHILD RUNNING ON STREET IN FRONT OF SCHOOL CHILD WALKING
- Embargoed: 5th November 2019 17:37
- Keywords: Syria Security Politics Hasaka Turkey Displaced
- Location: HASAKAH, SYRIA
- City: HASAKAH, SYRIA
- Country: Syria
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001B26J8LJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Displaced Kurds who fled Syria's northeastern frontlines are now stuck in Hasakah, struggling to find adequate support and resources.
Some live in a packed classroom some 80 km away from their hometown Ras al Ain, stuck in another town in northeastern Syria where Kurdish officials running an autonomous administration for years are scrambling to cope with an influx of displaced people.
According to the United Nations, more than 176,000 have fled their homes since Turkey launched its cross-border offensive against Kurdish militia after President Donald Trump said he was withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria's northeast.
Some 80,000 children alone have been uprooted, U.N. officials said on Tuesday. Only around 7,100 Syrian Kurds have made it over the border to neighbouring Iraq; the rest are stuck mostly in Kurdish-run Syrian towns like Hasakah.
Families keep arriving despite a truce agreed last week between Turkey and Washington which is due to expire on Tuesday night.
Turkey is seeking to set up a "safe zone" along 440 km of border as a buffer against the YPG militia, the main component of the SDF. Ankara sees the YPG as a terrorist group due to its links to Kurdish insurgents in southeast Turkey.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said Ankara will resume its assault when the deadline expires on Tuesday if the SDF has not pulled back.
(Production: Antony Paone, Nadeen Ebrahim) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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