Shafaq News- al-Hasakah

Another 475 displaced Syrian families returned to villages around Ras al-Ain (Serekaniye) on Thursday, bringing the seventh voluntary return convoy to 847 families over two days, an official from the Ras al-Ain Displaced Persons Committee told Shafaq News.

Government and security authorities coordinated the return journey from displacement camps across the province to ensure safe passage, according to the official, who said the first group, comprising 372 families mainly from shelters in al-Hasakah city, departed on Wednesday.

Since August, six previous convoys have brought 3,278 families back to Ras al-Ain and its countryside, as well as villages around Tal Tamr, Zarkan, and Abu Rasin in northern al-Hasakah. Returns to Ras al-Ain town have remained suspended since Kurdish families attempting to return were attacked in August, prompting subsequent convoys to focus on surrounding villages.

Ras al-Ain and Tal al-Abyad came under the control of Turkiye and allied Syrian opposition factions during the 2019 Operation Peace Spring offensive, which displaced more than 200,000 civilians, according to UN estimates.