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Kurdish IDPs Return Under Shadow of Settler Intimidation as Third Convoy Set for Wednesday

Settler groups chanted racist slogans, raised Saddam Hussein photos, and blocked the Kurdish flag as Afrin's second return convoy arrived April 4. Total returnees now stand at 600 families.

Settlers chant racist slogans against the Kurds and raise the Syrian flag with slogans of monotheism written on it in front of the Kurds who are receiving the Afrini IDPs, in front of the security forces. (Photo: Handed to Kurdistan24)
Settlers chant racist slogans against the Kurds and raise the Syrian flag with slogans of monotheism written on it in front of the Kurds who are receiving the Afrini IDPs, in front of the security forces. (Photo: Handed to Kurdistan24)
Syria Western Kurdistan Afrin Kurdish IDPs

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - The homecoming that hundreds of Afrin families had waited more than eight years for was met not with calm, but with provocations — settlers chanting racist slogans, raising photos of Saddam Hussein, and physically pushing returning Kurdish residents as Internal Security Forces stood by without intervening.

According to local sources who spoke to Kurdistan24, gatherings of settler groups assembled in the center of Afrin city on Saturday, around the Arc area, Mazout Street, and Khouza roundabout, during the arrival of the second convoy of displaced families.

The settlers raised photos of Saddam Hussein, chanted racist and extremist slogans, played provocative songs, and physically pushed and jostled returning residents in a deliberate attempt to antagonize the Kurdish families.

Kurdish flag removed by security forces

The provocations extended to the suppression of Kurdish symbols. Sources reported to Kurdistan24, that the Kurdish flag was prevented from being raised during the reception, with elements of the Internal Security Forces belonging to the Syrian Government's interior ministry seen removing the flag from participants in the welcome ceremony.

All of these incidents took place in plain view of Internal Security Forces personnel, with no intervention recorded to stop them.

Six hundred families home, third convoy on the way

The returns are taking place under an agreement reached between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Damascus government, which opened the door for thousands of Afrin displaced — many of whom have been separated from their homes and properties for more than eight years — to come back.

The first convoy brought back 400 families, and the second added a further 200, bringing the total number of families returned under this agreement to 600. A third convoy, also comprising 200 families, is scheduled to depart from the Jazira region on Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2026, bound for Afrin.

 
 
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