Kurds locked out of Afrin as Ghouta refugees take their place
Rows of vacant houses sat waiting to be distributed, free of charge, to displaced civilians escaping the devastation of Ghouta, said 29-year-old Hassan. A member of a local group affiliated with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) told him that one of the houses was now his, if he only chose to take it.
However, the alleged offer was not an innocent gesture of charity, and these homes were not abandoned voluntarily. They were the spoils of war, the property of Kurds who were displaced from Afrin in recent months by widespread bombing and ground fighting during Turkish-backed Operation Olive Branch.