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Many Idlib Residents Unable to Preserve their Property Rights in Damascus

09-07-2024/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

AbdulHamid, aged 55, owns a three-story property in the Hajira area of Babila, south of Damascus. The building is licensed in a zoned area, and AbdulHamid holds an official ownership deed. However, he had to leave Hajira at the end of 2012 and return to his hometown in Jabal Al-Zawiya in Idlib due to fear of armed clashes as regime forces advanced towards Hajira.

In 2013, regime forces took control of Hajira, and since then, AbdulHamid has been unable to return and check on his property. Recently, he heard from an old neighbour that an officer from a pro-regime militia had seized his property in 2014. AbdulHamid fears he will not be able to obtain security approval if he wants to authorise someone with a power of attorney to sell his house on his behalf. He is also concerned that the officer who seized his property might take illegal steps to register the property in his name.

Many Idlib residents, like AbdulHamid, have lost access to their properties in Damascus and its countryside due to the disruption of free and direct movement between opposition and regime-controlled areas in northwestern Syria. This lack of access to their properties has encouraged regime loyalists to seize some of them.

Like many Syrians, some Idlib residents who studied and worked in Damascus and its countryside and stayed there, living and buying homes and properties. This includes public sector and government institution employees, as well as military and security personnel, traders, businessmen, and freelancers. In some informal settlements in Damascus, there are entire neighbourhoods populated by Idlib residents, most notably Al-Hafez Street in the informal Tishreen neighbourhood, primarily inhabited by Idlib migrants who were police officers and personnels.

After 2011, some of these residents returned to Idlib, fearing arbitrary arrests and the detention of people from rebellious governorates at checkpoints. A significant number of police officers from Idlib defected and helped form opposition factions in Damascus and its countryside, fighting against regime forces. Over time, as Idlib became the main stronghold of the Syrian opposition, the people of Idlib began to suffer from discrimination in regime areas. Gradually, many Idlib residents preferred to return and leave their properties and homes in Damascus and its countryside.

Ahmad, aged 46, owns a flat on the first floor of a licensed building in the zoned area of the town of Aqraba in the Damascus countryside. He was forced to flee and leave his flat at the end of 2012 to escape the nearby battles. Ahmad told The Syria Report that he left everything in his home as it was, hoping for a swift return. However, 11 years have passed since then, and his hope for a quick return has faded as he settled in his hometown of Binnish, eastern Idlib. Ahmad says he has no idea about the current condition of his flat, whether it is occupied or destroyed. He adds that he no longer has any means of obtaining information about his property.

Movement between regime and opposition-controlled areas remained possible until 2018 through the Morek crossing in the northern Hama countryside, but it was limited to a small segment of Idlib residents who were not wanted by security forces. The military campaign by regime forces against the opposition in northwestern Syria between 2018-2020 not only established the current borders between the opposition and regime areas but also reduced the direct transport between the two regions.

Idlib residents who remained in opposition-controlled areas in Damascus and its countryside were forced to leave during the forced displacement campaigns that accompanied the regime’s gradual recapture of those areas until 2018. Sharif, aged 38, from the city of Taftanaz in the Idlib countryside, had a flat in a licensed building in the zoned area of central Douma in the Damascus countryside. He stayed there until 2018 when regime forces seized it and forcibly displaced those who refused reconciliation to Idlib. Sharif says his flat was partially burned by a shell during the last battles. He could not take his belongings, but he still keeps the official deed of his property ownership, although he has lost hope of returning.

Idlib residents who fled from Damascus and its countryside have found themselves almost trapped in Idlib, unable to return to inspect their properties. Just a few days ago, the Abu Al-Zindeen crossing in Aleppo countryside was opened but only for commercial movement between the two areas. In practice, to this day, there is no direct route connecting the two areas that would allow the movement of people. Therefore, those wishing to return to regime areas have to travel from opposition areas to areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Manbij, and from there to regime areas in Aleppo. These travel difficulties, costs, and the risks of arbitrary and random detentions for bribe payments have always limited the return movement.

Sahl Al-Ghab: FAO Funds Rehabilitation of Water Channels for Lands Belonging to Forcibly Displaced People

31-10-2023/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

The General Commission for the Administration and Development of Al-Ghab (GCADA), in cooperation with the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), has completed the rehabilitation and maintenance of a section of a main irrigation canal that waters agricultural lands, some of which are owned by individuals forcibly displaced from the area. The lands were previously listed for public auction by the Hama governorate for investment purposes.

The GCADA, with its main office in the city of Al-Suqaylabiyeh in rural Hama, is an administrative and service-oriented body tied to the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform. It is a legal entity with financial independence and administrative autonomy.

According to an official report published in the Tishreen newspaper on October 22, the rehabilitation included the removal of damaged concrete tiles along both sides of the canal, restoring the tiles and walls to their original state using technical methods and adhering to approved specifications to ensure smooth water flow without any waste or loss. Workers also maintained the gates and iron doors on the canal.

The director of the Irrigation and Drainage Department at the Commission stated that the rehabilitation works covered a section of the J-2 canal from the Tari Al-Ala – Al-Asharneh irrigation network, extending over a distance of six kilometres, between the towns of Khirbet Dams and Asilah. The total length of the J-2 canal is 49 kilometres, stretching from the city of Mhardeh to the Al-Bared River highway west of Hama. It irrigates about 14,840 hectares of agricultural land in the Al-Ghab area in the Hama governorate.

A correspondent for The Syria Report in the region pointed out that on both sides of the J-2 canal, especially west of the city of Mhardeh, agricultural lands belonging to villages and farms whose inhabitants were forcibly displaced to opposition-held areas in northwest Syria. Some of these villages and farms are almost entirely deserted, such as the town of Al-Treimseh and the farms of Al-Rawda, Al-Khwaitat, Al-Karama, and lands belonging to the towns of Al-Asharneh and Jirjisiya. The Hama governorate has put the lands of those absentees up for investment in public auctions held annually.

According to official statements, the area of agricultural land benefiting from the canal rehabilitation project exceeds 2,093 hectares, belonging to around 2,000 farmers and investors. The GCADA aims to rehabilitate and maintain 28,000 square metres of canals, irrigation networks, culverts, and existing metal protection fences in the Mhardeh area, extending to the city of Salhab, with funding from the FAO. Associations were formed for irrigation water investors who will be trained by FAO workshops on optimal usage of the canals and maintaining their safety and equipment for the longest possible time.

The Syria Report’s correspondent mentioned plans to rehabilitate other sections of the J-1 irrigation canal in Sahl Al-Ghab. One of the sections currently being rehabilitated is located in the Al-Asharneh plain southeast of Sahl Al-Ghab, connecting the towns of Sheizar and Al-Asharneh, and irrigating an area of about 24,000 hectares. It is not clear whether FAO or another international organisation will fund this project.

This is not the first time that rehabilitation work were carried out with funding from non-governmental and international organisations on projects that violate the property rights of absent landowners who have been forcibly displaced. In November 2022, with funding from the French Islamic Aid Organisation Secours Islamique France, 3,060 metres of the J-4 canal in the Qalaat Al-Madiq area in Sahl Al-Ghab were maintained, irrigating lands of those forcibly displaced from the area extending from west of Qalaat Al-Madiq city to the town of Al-Hawash to the north.

Regime-Controlled Areas of Idlib Still not Suitable for IDPs’ Return

24-10-2023/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

On October 2, the governor of Idlib, Thaer Salhab, told the semi-official Al-Watan newspaper that 70,0000 people now live in government-controlled parts of Idlib governorate.

For reasons still unclear, Mr Salhab connected this significant number to the recent return of dozens of displaced people from temporary shelters in the city of Hama to the cities of Khan Sheikhoun and Maarat Al-Numan.

In 2015, 11 temporary shelters for people displaced from Idlib to areas under government control were opened in Hama province. Of these centers, five are in Hama city, the most significant being the Naseh Alwani, Mohammed Ali Breidi, and Veterinary high schools, which house together only about 100 people, according to a correspondent for The Syria Report in the area. These are the only centres that have been emptied out so far. Meanwhile, the remaining centres in rural Hama are populated by IDPs whose hometowns in Idlib governorate are still under opposition control.

The Syria Report’s correspondent clarified that ten families (around 50 people) were moved from the shelters in Hama to Maaarat Al-Numan, and a similar number to Khan Sheikhoun. These people are relatives of regime forces members and government employees from those two cities. They were sent to reside in houses owned by forcibly displaced people from the area, which the Syrian Red Crescent had previously rehabilitated. This means that the homes given to these resettled displaced people do not belong to them. The mechanism for distributing the homes and the legal framework it relies on in the process of resettling the displaced are not clear.

On the other hand, the figure of 70,000 residents currently living in the regime-controlled areas in Idlib seems exaggerated. Khan Sheikhoun, the regime’s temporary administrative centre in Idlib governorate, is the most populous city in regime-controlled Idlib, at just 7,000 residents. Currently, Maarat Al-Numan is home to no more than 50 families (250 people), and the city is still largely destroyed, with basic services such as sewage networks and electricity not yet restored. There is currently only one primary school in the city, while middle and high school students have to travel daily to Khan Sheikhoun, 25 kilometres away. Even the majority of teachers and staff at the Zaatari Elementary Education School in Maarat Al-Numan live in Hama city and commute daily at their own expense.

The security situation in Maarat Al-Numan remains unstable, and movement is restricted after dark. Only regime forces can freely move around, particularly in the northern and western parts of the city, where military headquarters for the Russian-backed 25th Special Mission Division, the 11th Division, the Republican Guard and ammunition depots are located.

On August 15, a resident who had only returned to the city six months prior was allegedly killed by members of the 25th Division due to his protest against the lack of bread and water supplies in the city. The deceased’s body was handed over to his family, and the forensic report indicated that the cause of death was listed as “myocardial infarction.”

On the other hand, the General Secretariat of Idlib Governorate is working to secure some of the main services in the city of Khan Sheikhoun, focusing on paving and rehabilitating roads along with the rest of the villages and towns in rural Idlib under regime control. Meanwhile, the areas under regime control in Idlib lack hospitals where patients with chronic and non-acute conditions can receive medical services. These patients are forced to seek treatment in the cities of Hama and Aleppo, while cancer patients are treated in Damascus.

Palestinian Aid Group Builds Settlement for Displaced Syrians in Afrin

09-05-2023/in HLP, News /by Rand Shamaa

The Ajnadin Palestine displacement camp for Syrians officially opened on January 04, 2023, in the Afrin region in the northern part of the Aleppo governorate. Referred to as a “village,” the project aims to secure semi-permanent alternative housing for displaced Syrians in opposition-held areas. A local group called the Idlib Nation Team, active in Afrin, built the village with support and funding from Ajnadin, a Palestinian NGO based in the Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Bayt Hanina.

According to media reports, Ajnadin transferred the funds for the village from its account in the Israeli Habolim Bank. The fact that a Palestinian NGO in Israeli-occupied territory is funding a displacement housing project in Syria sheds light on the sheer depth of the crisis faced by displaced Syrians.

A source from Ajnadin told The Syria Report that the newly built village contains 50 dwellings for 50 families who had previously been living in displacement camps in rural Afrin. Each home has two bedrooms, a salon, a kitchen, and a bathroom, totalling around 45 square metres. There are two one-cubic-metre water tanks per unit, interior doors and windows, two main iron doors, and a 35-square-metre garden. A sewage network services the entire village. It also has a mosque and an Islamic studies centre for teaching Sharia and Quran.

The village is built on about 2.50 hectares of flat un-planted agricultural land near Shatika, a town in the Jandares district west of Afrin. However, the existing 50 dwellings only occupy one hectare of land, with the remainder set aside for a future stage of expansion in the project to build more housing units.

In the second phase of the village, the Idlib Nation Team will build 50 more homes and a school. Construction was supposed to begin in the first few months of 2023 but was postponed until the end of the year due to the February 06 earthquake, a source from the Idlib Nation Team told The Syria Report.

The Idlib Nation Team increased its support for the village and its residents after the earthquake. It set up a camp of dozens of tents to accommodate people affected by the disaster. The organisation was also in charge of implementing this project and confirmed it opened a village school last March for the children.

A source from the Idlib Nation Team told The Syria Report that the local council in Jandares granted the organisation land to build the village. The source added that Turkish officials in the area approved the project. However, the contract between the organisation and the local council does not indicate that the team owns the land or the residential units. Rather, the organisation’s role, according to the contract, is limited to the construction and supervision of housing operations. The local council is responsible for managing the village.

The homes cannot be sold or transferred to the families who live there. These families only have the right to use the housing units and cannot lease them. Therefore, according to the source, the village effectively belongs to the Jandares Local Council.

In 2018, Turkey-backed opposition factions took control of the entire Afrin region during Operation Olive Branch, forcing the displacement of much of the original population, most of whom were Kurds. There were also many violations of housing, land and property rights. In addition, more than 100,000 forcibly displaced people from the countryside of Damascus, Homs, and Aleppo also moved to Afrin, with many of them living in the homes of displaced Kurds.

A local source told The Syria Report that the land on which the village was built is not public or endowment property but privately owned by individuals from the Kurdish Manan family, which was forcibly displaced from the area in 2018. The opposition factions controlling the area accuse members of the Manan family of belonging to the majority Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Several family members were reportedly killed during the fighting in 2018.

The Manan family’s land is not an isolated case: it is among other lands that some opposition factions have extorted since 2018 on the pretext that their owners belong to the YPG. Sometimes, some factions grant these lands to local organisations to build residential villages to house the families of displaced opposition fighters from other parts of Syria.