The return of displaced Syrian Kurds to their northeastern hometown of Ras al-Ain was suspended on Monday after the first group of returnees was attacked, triggering protests in other Kurdish-majority areas of Syria.
Hundreds of people had travelled back to the town on Monday, months after a January agreement between the Syrian government and Kurdish authorities on integrating Kurdish forces and civil institutions into the state. The agreement also included provisions for the return of displaced Kurds.
Jawan Isso, a member of a committee representing displaced people from Ras al-Ain, told AFP that a first group of around 2,500 people heading home was attacked by armed groups.
Mahmud Khalil Ali, deputy head of security forces in Hasakeh province, where Ras al-Ain is located, said several people involved in the attacks had been arrested. He said the return trips had been temporarily suspended as a precaution to ensure the safety of the returnees.
“These trips will resume as soon as the situation stabilises and full protection is provided for the returnees,” he said.
A second group of displaced Kurds had been scheduled to return in the coming days, according to Isso.
Tens of thousands of Kurds were displaced after Turkey and allied Syrian fighters seized Ras al-Ain and a strip of territory along the Turkish border from Kurdish forces in 2019 during Syria’s civil war.
The attacks triggered demonstrations in nearby Qamishli, a Kurdish-majority city. An AFP correspondent reported that angry protesters attempted to enter the security forces’ headquarters, but Syrian officers pushed them back.
In Kobane, another Kurdish-majority town in northern Syria, Syrian state television reported that protesters attacked government offices and removed the Syrian flag outside the local security forces headquarters.
Authorities later imposed a curfew in Kobane while searching for those responsible, state television said, citing a security source.
Mazloum Abdi, leader of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which signed the January agreement with Damascus, condemned the attack on the returning families.
“We condemn the assault to which the displaced Kurdish families were subjected during their return,” he said in a post on X.
Abdi also called on Kurdish residents to remain calm and avoid actions that could threaten civil and security institutions.
Ahmad al-Hilali, deputy governor of Hasakeh, condemned both the attacks on returnees and attacks on state institutions in other areas, including the multiethnic city of Hasakeh.
“A number of rioters have already been arrested in several areas,” he said, warning that authorities would show “no leniency” towards those threatening civil peace.
Earlier on Monday, an AFP correspondent saw dozens of trucks loaded with furniture and other belongings waiting to leave from near Hasakeh, with men, women and children eager to return home.
“I've been waiting for this moment... It's like a dream for a person to return to their home,” said returnee Nora Khodor, 37.
Isso said around 100,000 people from the Ras al-Ain area had applied to return.
Human rights groups have said residents’ homes and belongings were seized or looted following the Turkish-led offensive. Some fighters subsequently settled in the area with their families and were reportedly still living there.
Ras al-Ain, known as Sari Kani in Kurdish, was formerly an ethnically mixed region.
Turkey launched successive cross-border offensives against Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria before the country’s new Islamist-led authorities ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
Since then, the authorities have been extending central government control across the country, including areas that were previously held by Kurdish forces.
“We are very happy about returning,” said Rawda Mohammed, 39, before the violence erupted.
“I asked about my home. They told me it is totally destroyed, but we did not get pessimistic because we're happy to return, and when we get there we'll see what we can do.”
About 5.5 million people remain internally displaced in Syria following more than 13 years of civil war, according to the United Nations.