Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) forces have expelled families from their houses in Hassakeh’s countryside, including the family of a Free Syrian Army commander who was killed by ISIS in an ongoing operation to evict and occupy the land of Syrian opposition members and their families.
A local source reported to Zaman al-Wasl that PYD fighters, led by Hussein Kojar, informed families of Free Syrian Army (FSA) members to leave the city of Ras-al-Ain, controlled by the PYD since the beginning of 2013. Kurdish forces have purportedly also prevented families from taking their belongings and vehicles.
The source mentioned that among those forcefully displaced was the family of Ammar al-Sayad, an FSA commander and one of its prominent founders in the eastern region, who were forced to leave their home and leave the city. According to the source, PYD fighters have also seized all shops in the Western entrance of the city.
Talking to Zaman al-Wasl, the commander of Brigade 313, Hareb al-Kahtani, mentioned that the family of Ammar al-Sayad had been forced to leave their house among dozens of Arab, Kurdish, Turkmen, Christian, and Chechen families, due to their support for the FSA in liberating Ras al-Ain in 2012.
Kahtani added that the PYD aims to evacuate all the revolution’s supporters from the area, frightening them through repossessing their land and properties. “Despite letting some people return to their houses in Honwa village, at the same time they (the PYD) completely evacuated the village of Nafayel in a campaign to humiliate the Arab people in the area”.
The commander mentioned that the PYD, with the help of the Syrian regime, had now occupied more than 1,000 villages in northern Hassakeh, including Ras al-Ain, Tal-Tamer, Tal Khamis, and Tal-Brak.
