Demographic change in rural Ras al-Ain: Yazidi community face systematic violations by Turkish-backed factions in more than ten villages

Villages belonging to the Yazidi community are facing demographic change after being abandoned during the military operation “Peace Spring”, as well as the theft of their property by Turkish-backed factions.

SOHR sources have reported that members of “Sultan Murad” faction destroyed and looted a cemetery belonging to the Yazidi Kurds in the village of Jan Tamer, east of Ras al-Ain.

On the other hand, Turkish-backed factions, supported and facilitated by the Turkish government, are resettling families of fighters loyal to them in these villages, as they do in other areas under their control. Dozens of families were relocated this spring to the village of Merikesh, the largest of these villages.

There are more than ten villages in eastern Ras al-Ain countryside, inhabited by Yazidis who have been forced to flee due to the military operation “Peace Spring”, which have a population of about 1,000. The population is distributed geographically in Merikis, Jan Tamer, Lazka, Shukria, Java, Ldara, the tomb of Sheikh Hussein, Matala, Bir Noah and Hamidia.

Several villages in western countryside of Ras al-Ain, such as Al-Assadiya, Khirbet Banat and Khirbet Ghazal, which are also under the control of Turkish-backed factions, which practice all kinds of violations after forcing indigenous people to leave their areas.