350 Syrian Kurdish refugees return to Syria: KRG official

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – An official from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has said that 350 of the Syrian Kurdish refugees who sought shelter in the Kurdistan Region since the beginning of the Turkish cross-border attack on northern Syria have returned to their home country.

“Until now, 70 families and 350 Syrian Refugees have returned to Syria voluntarily for various reasons,” Hoshang Mohammed, Director General of the JCC (Joint Crisis Coordination Centre), told Kurdistan 24. “This is the total number of all returnees.”

The Syria-based Rojava Information Centre (RIC) on Tuesday said over 100 refugees who fled Syria during the Turkish assault that was launched on Oct. 9 have returned “via the Semalka border crossing [on Monday], in the second such official return of refugees to regions still under Autonomous Administration control.”

On Monday, four buses with Syrian Kurdish refugees from the Bardarash refugee camp returned to Syria, according to a post on the official Facebook page of Semalka border crossing.

A ceasefire deal was first reached between the United States and Turkey on Oct. 17 and then another between Russia and Turkey on Oct. 22 to stop the fighting, but the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) say it is still ongoing near the towns of Ain al-Issa and Tal Tamir.

During the Turkish ceasefire violations, at least 68 civilians have been killed, the SDF said on Tuesday.

Despite the return of the 350 Kurdish refugees, the number of refugees in the Kurdistan Region is still increasing. The latest arrivals are being accommodated at Bardarash and Gawilan camps in Duhok. 

In a social media post, the JCC said on Wednesday that 104 Syrian Kurdish refugees arrived through the Sehela border crossing, taking the total number of arrivals to 17,818 people, adding to the 226,000 Syrian refugees that were already living in the autonomous region.

The current camps in the Kurdistan Region were built as a rapid response to the mass displacement emanating from the rise of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

In recent years, the Kurdistan Region has become home to 1.8 million IDPs and refugees who fled from Syria and other parts of Iraq. Nearly four million Iraqis were displaced when the terror group emerged in northern Iraq in mid-2014.

Editing by John J. Catherine