Ras al-Ayen: The Conflict over the “Gate to Syrian Jazira” on its Seventh Anniversary www.stj-sy.org Ras al-Ayen: The Conflict over the “Gate to Syrian Jazira” on its Seventh Anniversary This special report covers the events and violations witnessed by the city of Ras al-Ayen/Sari Kani between November 2012 and September 2013 Page | 2 Ras al-Ayen: The Conflict over the “Gate to Syrian Jazira” on its Seventh Anniversary www.stj-sy.org 1. Executive Summary: Today—November 8, 2019— marks the 7th anniversary of the spark that catalyzed the clashes witnessed by the city of Ras al-Ayen/Sari Kani in al-Hasakah province, northeast Syria, in 2012, an area that abounds with ethnic and religious diversity, where different religious and ethnic groups live and exist side-by-side, including Syriac Assyrians, Kurds, Arabs, Armenians and Chechens, while it sets an example of civil peace and coexistence. Adjacent to the Turkish border strip, the city fell to the hold of the Autonomous Administration in northeast Syria, taken over by the People’s Protection Units/YPG, after the Jabhat al-Nusra/al-Nusra Front/al-Qaeda was expelled from it, on the heels of the Syrian opposition-affiliated armed groups, which controlled the city in 2012 in the aftermath of some days long battles with the Syrian regular forces, which at the date maintained a mere symbolic presence in the area. Between November 2012 and September 2013, the city of Ras al-Ayen/Sari Kani changed from being a safe area into an open front for military struggle, bearing witness to a rising action every now and then. Many observers attributed this shift to the city’s strategic importance, for it is the “gate to the Syrian Jazira”, on the northeast of the country, known for its wealth of oil and other riches, which the armed opposition groups, Jabhat al-Nusra/al- Nusra Front and Daesh/Islamic State/ISIS, later on, sought to get hold of at all costs. The 2012 clashes broke out when opposition-affiliated armed groups and other hardliner Islamic groups, most notably Ghuraba al-Sham Brigades1 and Jabhat al-Nusra/al-Nusra Front, forced their way into the city of Ras al-Ayen/Sari Kani on November 8, following which the Syrian Government Air Force aimed at the city with several air raids, sending many of its families on a flight of displacement to other areas or to Turkey as a place of refuge. The city then became a landscape for a fresh series of confrontations that brought these groups against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units/YPG. The clashes were matched with several violations and practices by the opposition-affiliated armed groups against the locals who remained in the city, ranging from abduction, holding civilians as captives and using them as hostages to looting and confiscation of public and privately-owned properties, not to mention the artillery shelling. The city also bore witness to airstrikes, conducted by the Syrian regular forces, due to which several civilian casualties 1 Ghuraba al-Sham Brigades: An Islamic group founded in Aleppo Province following the break out of the armed conflict in Syria. The group was brought to existence by Hamoud Ghoul Aghassi (Abu al- Qa'qa'), originally from Aleppo Province, who was involved, as many sources indicate, in the creation of the initial nucleus of al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq through sending volunteer recruits to Iraq and al-Fallujah. The group encompassed 22 brigades under the command of Sheikh/Scholar Omar Hilal, a former jihadist who participated in the Iraq War in 2003. Most known of these brigades was the Toyour al-Ababil/ Abābīl Birds, led by Hassan Jazarah, who was executed along with six of the brigade’s militants, as each of them received a bullet in the head by the Islamic State/ISIS/Daesh at the square of the al-Atārib town, rural Aleppo, in late November 2013 on the charges of looting and pillage. The Ghuraba al-Sham Brigades was dissolved in 2014. Page | 3 Ras al-Ayen: The Conflict over the “Gate to Syrian Jazira” on its Seventh Anniversary www.stj-sy.org were recorded. These violations, committed by so-and-so sides, took a toll on dozens of innocent civilians. As reported by numerous sources, the armed groups which took part in the attack against the city, particularly those affiliated with the opposition, were granted significant support by Turkey, especially since the latter has openly hosted the injured of these armed groups at its hospitals, while it provided the groups with food and ammunition via the border crossing, through which Turkish ambulances would pass back and forth to the city, entering it with loads of weapons and ammunition and carrying aboard the wounded militants of the armed opposition groups on their way out, to provide them with medical care, according to several of the city’s residents and eyewitnesses. Photo no. (1) 2. Immediate Turkish Intervention to Regain Control over the City in 2019: In 2019, the city of Ras al-Ayen/Sari Kani was turned into a front for military action once again. On October 9, 2019, the Turkish forces, backed by the factions of the Syrian National Army/SNA, operating under the armed opposition, have embarked on a military operation Page | 4 Ras al-Ayen: The Conflict over the “Gate to Syrian Jazira” on its Seventh Anniversary www.stj-sy.org decoded Peace Spring2 in northeast Syria, aiming to establish a safe zone on its southern borders, where two million Turkey-based Syrian refugees are to be housed.3 At the onset of the Turkish military operation in the city of Ras al-Ayen/Sari Kani, the majority of the area’s population was rendered displaced, amounting to nearly 50,000 persons, after the city was subjected to airstrikes and artillery shelling on the part of Turkey and the Ankara- backed militants of the Syrian National Army, which preceded the escalation of the clashes with the Syrian Democratic Forces/SDF that attempted to combat the Turkish offensive as dozens of civilians were stuck in the confrontation areas inside the city. Up to October 17, 2019, Turkey, supported by the factions of the Syrian National Army, managed to impose a suffocating siege on the city and to take over almost half of it. The shelling that accompanied the Turkish offensive against the city resulted in dozens of civilian casualties. The Autonomous Administration, for its part, accused4 Turkey of using internationally prohibited/banned weapons during the offensive, after it documented burns sustained by cases rushed to the hospital in the town of Tall Tamr. While the Turkish Ministry of Defense denied5 these accusations, no mandated independent international committee succeeded to investigate into the use of internationally prohibited weapons by Ankara and the factions it backs to the date this report was written. On October 17, 2019, Turkey concluded an agreement6 with the U.S. providing for the suspension of the Turkish military action in northeast Syria for (120) hours and the withdrawal of the SDF into a depth of (32) kilometers. However, the SDF accused Turkey and the factions 2 “Erdogan: Turkey to Launch Military Operation in Northeastern Syria.” Anadolu Agency, October 5, 2019. Last visited: November 4, 2019. https://www.aa.com.tr/ar/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84- %D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A9/%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%BA%D 8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A3%D8%B5%D8%AF%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%A7- %D8%AA%D9%88%D8%AC%D9%8A%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%AA- %D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%82-%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9- %D8%B9%D8%B3%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%B4%D9%8A%D9%83%D8%A9- %D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA/1603022. 3 “Erdogan: We can no longer hold back on the condition in eastern Euphrates.” Anadolu Agency, October 1, 2019. Last visited: November 4, 2019. https://www.aa.com.tr/ar/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84- %D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A9/%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%BA%D 8%A7%D9%86-%D9%84%D9%85-%D9%8A%D8%B9%D8%AF- %D8%A8%D9%85%D9%82%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%A7- %D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%B8%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%84- %D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B6%D8%B9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%8A- %D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA/1599068. 4 For further information, refer to: https://www.facebook.com/952306884959249/posts/1130589620464307/. 5 “Turkish Forces Did Not Use Internationally Banned Weapons during Operation Peace Spring, Ankara Confirms.” Turkpress, on October 21, 2019. Last visited: November 4, 2019. http://www.turkpress.co/node/65713?fbclid=IwAR3ufYpGAR4rE5GVwd8_EMc_k7G4qmIc6oj6yiH- eeQMKFjnhVL-JyRfwP0. 6 “New op in Syria not necessary: Turkish Defense Ministry.” Anadolu Agency, on October 23, 2019. Last visited: November 4, 2019. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/operation-peace-spring/new-op-in-syria-not-necessary- turkish-defense-ministry/1623206. Page | 5 Ras al-Ayen: The Conflict over the “Gate to Syrian Jazira” on its Seventh Anniversary www.stj-sy.org of the Syrian National Army of violating the Ankara-Washington agreement several times, for the city of Ras al-Ayen/Sari Kani was subjected to a Turkish artillery and aerial shelling.