This month, the Kurdish-Syrian residents in Ras al-Ain fled their homes as bombs dropped down, destroying everything. The rush of people fleeing caused a ten-kilometer long traffic jam away from the border of Turkey. Trying to escape the destructive bombs, a woman was seen pushing her paralyzed son. According to CNN news, a resident of Ras al-Ain said: “It was a sight that affected me greatly. We know the woman, and we knew she was mentally unwell.” The resident says he was frantically cramming his kids into his car so that he could quickly escape, and he couldn’t help the woman. Three days later he left the village and joined over 160,000 people who were fleeing from the said Turkish invasion. There are still people back in the village who are not able to leave due to old age.

Northern Syria has been a refugee camp for the longest time. Before the Turkish invasion began, there were at least 650,000 people who were already refugees. Now, they are being forced to flee again, because the eight-year war is slowly making its way North. The refugees are fleeing to Southern Kurdistan. Turkey is attempting to drive out the Kurdish soldiers standing on the borders of Syria. Led by the Kurdish people’s protection unit (YPG), the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is considered a “terrorist” organization by Turkey. However, the SDF are U.S. allies and have helped in the fight against ISIS. 

The Kurdish-controlled zones are enclosed by the borders of Turkey, Iraq, and a Syrian territory. The border crossing is mostly closed to refugees, leaving many of them homeless. Inside Kurdistan and its larger towns, Kurds are still in control. The outskirts are now deployed by Syrian forces, upon Kurdish request, to help keep the Turkish from getting into heavily populated areas. Russia has also sent military police into the area. 

International Humanitarian workers have been leaving Northeast Syria due to safety concerns. According to CNN, Kurdish officials say that the decrease in aid workers has led to a “complete interruption of humanitarian aid.” The humanitarian groups say they have not called back all the workers, just some. Kurdish civil society members are now working twice as hard. Staff and volunteers from PEL Civil Waves, a northeastern Syrian civil society group, have been on top of it with emergency responses.