(Zaman Al Wasl)- Over the past two weeks, public discontent spread as a result of looting and theft of civilian property by fractions affiliated to the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army in Ras al-Ain, a newly-captured town from US-backed Kurdish forces.
Abdul Razzaq, a 34-year-old resident of Tel Halaf, said that he had been displaced since the clashes began near Ras al-Ain. When he returned, he found that the National Army " has ransacked their shops and machinery.” His brother paid 100,000 SYP to recover his motorcycle as a price for their “protection”.
Colonel Hassan Hamadeh, Deputy Minister of Defense in the opposition’s Interim Government, said the violations committee, which he heads, is still following all the complaints submitted to them since the formation of the Ras Al-Ain investigation court, stressing that “it takes time.”
Hamadeh explained that anyone who has a complaint can consult the court set up in Ras al-Ain and submit it to the Follow-up and Verification Commission and that the establishment of the military court in Ras Al-Ain and Tel Abyad came to facilitate and expedite the resolution of all complaints and abuses.
The YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) withdrew from Ras al-Ain on October 20, in the first pullback under a ceasefire deal with Turkey brokered by the United States.
A fighter of the National Army, spoke to Zaman Al-Wasl on condition of anonymity, said the members of Hamza, Sultan Murad and Suqour al-Shamal divisions did not just rob the shops in Ras Al-Ain and the houses under the pretext of supporting the Democratic Union, but their actions are contributing to the destruction of infrastructure, like the electricity network by stealing wires and dismantling transistors in search of copper.
Turkey backed by the SNA launched a military operation on October 9 to uproot PKK-linked fighters from border line and to set a ‘safe zone’ to resettle about 1.5 Syrian refugees.
The seizure of agricultural tractors and fuel tanks by members of Sultan Murad and Suqour al-Chamal foreshadows a crisis in the field of agriculture, especially with the approaching winter planting of wheat and barley amid scarcity in seed, fertilizer and other supplies.
The looting led to the displacement of people from these villages once again for fear of the deteriorating situation, the theft of their cars and property, and the arrests under pretext of connections with the Union Party and its self-administration.
Zaman Al Wasl
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