After participating in demographic changes | Kuwaiti Ministry of Social Affairs stop approvals for establishment projects in Syria

Kuwaiti charity organizations stopped their new establishment projects in northern of Syria, after the Kuwaiti Ministry of Social Affairs, represented by the administration of the charity organizations, issued a circular to the heads of 64 charity organizations to stop providing approvals for charitable establishment projects in Syira.

This comes in light of housing projects in the Afrin region to house and settle the displaced, and to contribute to the process of demographic change in Afrin with the support of the Turkish government, under “humanitarian” pretexts, to consolidate the demographic change in Afrin in north western of Syria, by construction of houses and villages for settlement and housing displaced people in it in areas, which most of their population are displaced due to the “Olive Branch” operation.

In October 2021, SOHR sources reported that the “White Hands Charity”, with the co-operation of the Palestinian organization “Live with Dignity”, has opened “Basma” village near Dayrah village in Shirawa district in Afrin countryside. The new village has been funded by several associations and charities, including the Kuwaiti Sheikh Abdullah Al Nouri Charity Society, the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs of Kuwait, the International Islamic Charity Organization, the Qatari charity society of “Rohamaa Baynahom”, the Kuwaiti Zakat House, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, the Charity Committee of al-Eslah Society, the Kuwaiti al-Najat Charity and the Kuwaiti Campaign for Sham Victory and Support.

The new village includes eight residential blocks with 96 45-square-meter apartments, and other services and facilities, including a mosque, a school, a medical centre and headquarters of the village’s administration.

On August 30, the Local Council in Afrin city opened a new village dubbed “Kuwait al-Rahma” with the aim for inhabiting displaced people from various areas across Syria.

This development came as a part of the Turkish government’s efforts to accomplish the demographic change in Afrin canton through allowing and supporting civil organizations and bodies to structure residential units in the towns and villages whose indigenous residents were displaced, after their houses had been destroyed due to the “Olive Branch” Operation in the villages and towns of Afrin.

The recently-established village, “Kuwait al-Rahma”, was located between Qibar and al-Khalidiyyah villages in Shirawa district in Afrin countryside, while the land where the residential units were established belonged to Yazidi civilians. The village, which was established by a Kuwaiti-Palestinian association known as “Sham al-Khair” with the participation of some Turkish organizations operating in north Syria region, also accommodated nearly 380 residential units, a mosque, a school, a dispensary, a Koranic institute and a shopping mall.

It is worth noting that al-Khalidiyah village, which the recent residential units were established in, was one of the villages of Shirawa district, and it was located on the top of Lelon mountain. The village is surrounded by several villages, including Maryamin to the east and Qibar to the west.

The village had been destroyed completely by Turkish fighter jets in January 2018, while its inhabitants whose number approximated 100 people who lived in nearly 20 houses were displaced at that time during the “Olive Branch” Operation. The village’s inhabitants had relied on agriculture and animal husbandry before their village was turned into ruins.

The Turkish military operation in early 2018 forced over 300,000 Kurdish people to displace from Afrin canton.