Syrian Kurds fled Tel Rifaat in northern Aleppo Governorate in large numbers on Tuesday after Turkish-backed rebels seized it from rival U.S.-backed Kurdish authorities. Four new towns have been captured by Syrian insurgents, bringing them closer to Hama according to activists.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces largely withdrew and called for a humanitarian corridor to allow people to leave safely in convoys toward Aleppo and later to Kurdish-led northeast regions.
Some of the Kurdish families who fled were from Afrin and had already been displaced after the Turkish incursion into northern Syria in 2018.
“It is the second time that we flee because of Turkish artilleries, planes, and their filthy gangsters,” said Walid Hasso, another displaced man from Tal Rafaat.
Sheikhmus Ahmad, co-chair of the office for displaced and refugees in northeast Syria, said that over 20,000 displaced families from Aleppo had been registered, but that thousands of other Kurdish families remain stuck there and its surrounding areas.
Thousands of Syrian insurgents took over most of Aleppo last week, establishing positions in the country’s largest city and controlling its airport before expanding their shock offensive to a nearby province. They faced little to no resistance from government troops, according to fighters and activists.
