Several thousand Arabs and Turkmens have been displaced after the PYD/PKK terror group began invading and expanding west of Afrin, east of Tal Abyad and Hasakah in Syria
The terror group wants to permanently settle in the region after disrupting northern Syria's demography.
Afrin is located in the west of where Operation Euphrates Shield was conducted jointly by the Turkish Armed Force and the Free Syrian Army (FSA), from August 2016 to late March 2017, to improve security, support coalition forces and eliminate terror threats along the Turkish border.
The PYD/PKK tried to expand to the Afrin region prior to Operation Euphrates Shield with the support of Russia and the Bashar Assad regime in early 2016.
The terror elements emerging from Afrin forced nearly 250,000 civilians in Afrin's southeast Tal Rifat and neighboring regions to flee.
The civilians sought refuge in opposition-controlled Azaz district, neighboring the Euphrates Shield region.
A council head of Tal Rifat, Mahmoud Allito told Anadolu Agency that they are waiting for the PYD/PKK threat to end so that they can return home.
One of the important aims of Operation Olive Branch, which was launched in Afrin on Jan. 20 by the Turkish Armed Forces and FSA against terror groups, is to enable the return of civilians who fled violence.
Following are the names of 60 settlement areas from where civilians were forced to flee:
Tal Rifat district, Kafr Naya and Deir Jamal towns, Minnig, Harabisha, Babinnis, Aksar, Zoyan, Talinip, Al Coba, Hasin, Khalisa, Al Nairabiyye, Shaykh Qeyf, Tal Al Madik, Al-Hassiyah, Ta'ane, al-Karmel village, Tal Cican, al-Wardiyyah, Suruj, Kafer mez, Ummal Qura, Sheale, Al Wahshiyyah, Marita, Tal Rahhal, Malikah, Qishtiar, Tata Marash, Tanab, Qafar Anton, Al Wasitiyyah, Shawarga, Ayn Daknah, Maranaz, Hirbat Hayat, Kafr Naseh, Hassacik, Tal Shair, Tal Ajar, Maryamayn, Tal Qarah, Anab, Az Ziyyarah, Fefin, Um Hosh, Harbul, Ahras, Shaykh Issa and Garnata villages, Al-Wardiyyah, As-samukah, Al-Alkamiyyah, Harbul, Shawargat Ac coz, Al-Bayluna, Al-Heb, Ash-Shahhabiyyah and Shaykh Hilal fields.
West of Euphrates River meets same fate
The terrorist group seized Tal Abyadi, between Hasakah and Ayn al Arab (Kobane) in June 2015, with intense U.S. air support.
They attempted ethnic cleansing of the Arab and Turkmen civilian population in Tal Abyad over claims they support Daesh.
During the summer of 2015, PYD/PKK forced residents to flee after conducting attacks on Turkmen and Arab villages in rural districts.
The group then sought to make its invasion in the region a permanent one.
Mudar Hammad al-Asaad, coordinator of the Supreme Council of Syrian Tribes, said the PYD/PKK, since 2012, has been trying to vacate Arab, Kurd, Soryani and Turkmen population by heavily arming itself at various spots in northern Syria.
Assad said the group is recording each settlement unit and that the number of those who have been forced to migrate from the region, excluding Afrin, has reached 1.96 million.
According to the records of Supreme Council of Syrian Tribes, nearly 250,000 Arabs from Manbij, 150,000 Kurds, Arabs and Soryani from Qamishli, 40,000 Arab, Kurd and Soryani from Ayn Al Arab (Kobane), 25,000 of Arabs, Kurds, Soryani from Amuda, 20,000 Arabs, Kurds, and Soryani from Dirbasiyyah, 120,000 of Arabs from Shaddadi, 30,000 of Arabs from Al Hol, 180,000 of Arabs from Upper Shuyukh, Lower Shuyukh, Soluq and Tal Abyad, 150,000 Arabs, Kurds, and Soryani from Malikiyyah, Tal Hamis, Kahtaniyah and Rumaylan, 350,000 Arabs from Raqqah and Tabkah, 30,000 Turkmen from Raqqah's Turkmen villages, 15,000 of Arabs from Markadah, 15,000 Arabs from Abu Fas, 350,000 Arabs from Deyr Zor, 30,000 Tal Braq, 200,000 Arabs and Soryani from Hasakah were forced to migrate by the terrorist PYD/PKK group.
The PYD/PKK has invaded 25 percent of Syrian territory and 65 percent of Turkey-Syria border.