Displaced Kurds Refuse to Evacuate Vacant Assyrian Homes in Rural Hassakeh

Assyrians are a Christian ethno-religious minority who have historically inhabited dozens of villages in the Khabur river basin in the northwestern part of the Hassakeh governorate. Since 2014, the areas inhabited by Assyrians have been under the control of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and have experienced complex displacement patterns. Initially, Assyrian residents fled due to attacks by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2015. Subsequently, the area saw an influx of forcibly displaced Kurds, primarily due to Turkish military operations along various parts of the Syrian border.

Displaced Kurds moved into vacant homes left by the departing Assyrians and, to this day, some still refuse to return these properties to their rightful owners. Despite repeated appeals from the Assyrians and their representative bodies within the AANES (such as the Khabur Guard Council, the Syriac Military Council, the Committee for the Protection of the Properties of Absent Syriacs, Assyrians, and Armenians, etc.) to recover their properties, around 140 homes, shops, and farms remain occupied by new arrivals in villages such as Tal Baloua, Tal Sakri, Tal Tawil, Um Gharqan, Tal Jazeera, Tal Jumaa, Um Kayf, Safah, Al-Arisha, Tal Hermuz, and Qabr Shamia.

These displaced individuals not only reside in the homes but also engage in commercial activities in the shops and farm the vacant lands, with some even expanding the homes they have seized. Additionally, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) control properties belonging to absent Assyrians in the Tal Tamer area.

Before 2011, the Assyrian population in the Khabur basin was estimated at around 30,000, spread across 33 villages and towns around Tal Tamer, their principal homeland. The Assyrians belong to the Assyrian Church of the East and have their political parties, some of which support and others oppose the Syrian government. In recent years, many have emigrated to Europe, the United States, or major Syrian cities like Damascus and Aleppo.

The largest displacement of Assyrians occurred on 23 February 2015, when ISIS launched an armed assault on 15 Assyrian villages surrounding Tal Tamer, displacing approximately 11,000 people. The group abducted more than 200 Assyrians, burned churches and killed around 20 people. Civilian homes were looted and vandalised. Most of the village residents fled to the cities of Qamishli, Hassakeh, and Malikiya in AANES areas, and some emigrated outside Syria. In May 2015, the SDF and the Syriac Military Council (a militia operating in AANES areas in the Hassakeh governorate, consisting of Syriacs and Assyrians) launched a counter-attack and reclaimed these villages. However, of the 11,000 displaced Assyrians, only around 1,000 have returned.

The Khabur Guard Council was established in 2015, directly after the liberation of those towns, as a civilian body made up of prominent Assyrian Christian figures, community leaders, and clergy to protect vacant properties in these villages from any encroachments. While it lacks judicial authority, the AANES complemented it with a military force to help enforce its decisions. The council maintains checkpoints, screens outsiders to the Khabur basin, protects private properties, receives complaints, refers violators to the relevant courts, and returns seized properties to their owners.

The Khabur Guard Council is a counterpart to the “Committee for the Protection of the Properties of Absent Syriacs, Assyrians, and Armenians,” formed by the AANES under Decree No. 20 of 2015. This civilian committee, which operates in areas under AANES control, intervenes only before AANES courts in judicial disputes involving absent Christians. It handles complaints about the illegal seizure or occupation of properties belonging to absentee Christians and also processes requests from tenants of these properties regarding rent, vacating, or other agreements.

In 2018, factions backed by Turkey took control of the predominantly Kurdish Afrin region in the northwest part of the Aleppo governorate as part of Operation “Olive Branch,” resulting in the displacement of many Kurdish residents. Many of these displaced people moved to areas under the AANES in northeast Syria, with some settling in the 15 Assyrian villages, occupying empty homes temporarily with the approval of Mar Afram Athniel, the Archbishop of the Church of the East.

Then, in October 2019, Turkish-backed factions of the National Army took control of a border strip between Syria and Turkey, which included the towns of Tal Abyad in Raqqa and Ras Al-Ain in Hassakeh. This led to another wave of displacement among the local Arab and Kurdish populations, some of whom relocated to the 15 Assyrian villages. Once again, Mar Afram Athniel permitted temporary residence in vacant homes along the Khabur River basin. Displaced families repaired the vacant and war-damaged homes from the 2015 conflicts.

In 2022, around 300 displaced individuals from Ras Al-Ain and Tal Abyad occupied vacant homes in the village of Tal Nasri, owned mostly by expatriates. The owners enlisted the help of the Syriac Union Party’s “Sutoro” military force, supported by the SDF, which managed to recover these properties. The Committee for the Protection of the Properties of Absent Syriacs, Assyrians, and Armenians also successfully persuaded the AANES to evacuate Assyrian villages of displaced people and provide alternative shelter. Between 2022 and 2023, the committee convinced Tal Tamer’s municipal council to help vacate many occupied homes.

However, as the duration of the occupancy lengthens, property owners worry about the difficulties of reclaiming their homes. No lease or lending agreements exist between the displaced occupants and the rightful property owners. “This has gone beyond temporary hosting and is no longer just a humanitarian service,” a property owner told The Syria Report.

AANES courts handle cases of property extortion, with penalties under the 2023 criminal code reaching up to two years in prison. Property extortion, or “ghasb,” is defined as taking control of someone else’s property without consent or legal ownership. However, dual jurisdiction between courts under Damascus’s Ministry of Justice and those of the AANES complicates procedures for recovering seized properties. Furthermore, the influence of Damascus’s courts and government offices is limited to certain main city centres in northwest Syria and is often marred by corruption.

To reclaim possession of a property from its occupants, the owner must file a request with a specific judicial committee under the AANES. For Khabur basin property owners, objections are submitted to either the Khabur Guard Council or the Committee for the Protection of Absent Christians’ Properties, supported by a title deed, five witnesses, or an exclusive power of attorney verified by one of the AANES’ representatives or Syrian embassies abroad. After reviewing the request, the committee may issue an eviction order in favour of the owner. Alternatively, the owner can file a direct lawsuit for property seizure in the AANES court system, which possesses an effective enforcement arm, though the process can take over two years, according to some owners who successfully reclaimed their properties.