Two days ago we yet again witnessed huge numbers of people streaming out of #Baghouz, this time during the night.
The press pack were greeted by an eerie ambience on their arrival as hundreds of silhouettes moved across the desert and into custody of the #SDF.
These ghostlike figures, shadows of their former selves, made an apt metaphor for the failed state they had just left; exhausted and defeated but not without defiance, promising to renew the 'dawla' as soon as they can.
Yesterday evening another group crossed no-mans-land and spent the night in the desert, still waiting there when we arrived this morning. A significant number were foreign; we personally met women from Canada, Russia, Germany, and France with their young children.
We were forbidden from interviewing the French, possibly on the order of French forces here after Macron's declaration yesterday about the need for European states to take back their citizens.
Huge numbers of #YPG and #YPJ fighters were again present, processing people, and distributing food and aid. One military ambulance was providing vitamin injections to the kids.
Again most of them were seriously malnourished. One YPJ fighter told us that she has witnessed 11 dying in just the last few days, many of them arriving too late to be saved by the medical staff present.
One European woman amongst the arrivals told us that only very few women and children are left in #Baghuz, that they are mostly foreign and they are "afraid of leaving".
12 more trucks arrived in the afternoon, not fully loaded, mostly women and children with a group of 20 wounded men. One had a recent gunshot wound in his leg. We are hearing that the atmosphere inside the ISIS hold-out is panic with more that 5 thousand people remaining.
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"The theories Turkey are advancing [Ankara attackers coming from Syria] are not true. Turkey wants to legitimize its attacks. The primary aim of the attacks is to destroy our people's existence."
"These attacks are war crimes. All intl. agreements, the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols, say civilian infrastructure and civilians should not be a target. It is forbidden. But as has been seen, Turkey violates this. No other states raise their voice against this."
"Turkey wants to create refugees, change the identity of this region. This is a mode of genocide. Murder, creating poverty and hunger, cutting off water, cutting off the essentials of life, aim to destroy our people, make them refugees, make that no one can live in this land."
Across January 27th and 28th, the city of Qamishlo hosted North and East Syria's inaugural technology fair.
24 inventors and companies participated in the event, which was organized by the telecommunications company Rcell, presenting a variety of applications and devices.
The exhibited projects ranged from large-scale solar panels for agricultural use to innovative applications in health care, as well as surveillance technology for private owners.
Among the the exhibitors there were also students of the University of Rojava.
Recently graduated from the faculties of Mechatronics, Engineering, and the Institute of Technical Sciences, they presented their technological innovations including a smart farming project and...
Yesterday, Iraq's Ministry of Migration and Displacement announced the repatriation of 584 people from al-Hol camp, marking Iraq's first repatriation mission since October. The camp's Iraqi population now stands at 26,875, comprising over half of the total inhabitants.
Those leaving al-Hol camp will be sent to al-Jada camp in Iraq's Nineveh governorate. With this most recent repatriation mission, the total number of Iraqi citizens repatriated from NES since 2017 rises to 11,484. This includes those repatriated from prisons as well as camps.
A few days after Iraq's new government, under PM Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, was sworn in on October 27th, the Minister of Migration & Displacement suspended the return of displaced Iraqis from al-Hol camp, citing the need for a more robust humanitarian and security mechanism.
US' @CENTCOM have announced that the "Free Syrian Army" killed ISIS' leader, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, in Daraa province back in October. ISIS have now declared Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi as their new leader.
The threat from ISIS sleeper cells remains high in NES. Yesterday, AANES' Justice and Reform Office announced a state of alert due to intelligence that ISIS is preparing for an attack on an ISIS prison in Qamishlo city.
Back in September, Turkey killed the two co-chairs of the Justice and Reform Office using a drone.
"The Shammar is not just a traditional tribe; a big part of the tribe is involved in politics".
The Shammar tribe is AANES’ closest ally of the Arab tribes in NES. RIC spoke with journalist Tarif Obeid and Arwa Ahmed al-Salah, both from the Shammar, regarding ...
... the significance of Shammar-AANES relations, as well as of that between their respective defence forces: the Sanadid and YPG-YPJ.
Recently, the Sheikh of Shammar in Syria, Hamidi Daham al-Hadi, died aged 86. Hamidi had cultivated strong relations with Kurds and Kurdish groups in NES, prior to the establishment of AANES, and later oversaw the integration of Shammar’s militia, the Sanadid, into the SDF.
The Turkish army is shelling the city of Kobane. Some local sources have reported that there are casualties.
Shelling has been ongoing in other places across NES as well.
Last night, the Turkish army shelled Jirnik and Xerze villages in Amude's countryside, and Chetel, Qermane, Melek, and Delil villages in Darbasiyah's countryside, causing damage to civilian houses.
Also shelled last night was the village of Rotaan, in the countryside of Tirbespi, where the Syriac Sotoro Forces Academy is located.
In this past week, Turkey had already shelled this village, as well as the Syriac Church of Maharkan and the Syriac village of Malla Abbas.