HESNA MIHEMED

Shahba- Six years have passed since Afrin, a Kurdish city in northeastern Syria, was occupied by the Turkish state and Turkish-backed factions on March 18, 2018. After resisting the Turkish attacks for 58 days, thousands of people in Afrin were forcibly displaced. Most of them took shelter in Shahba.

 For six years, they have been resisting the ongoing Turkish attacks and the siege imposed by the Syrian government so that they will return to Afrin one day. NuJINHA spoke to women of Afrin living in Shahba about the Turkish attacks and the siege imposed by the Syrian government aiming to displace them again.

‘We will stay in Shahba until we return to Afrin’

Emîna Şêxo, a displaced woman of Afrin living in Shahba, thinks that the aim of the ongoing attacks on Shahba is to displace them again. “We are subjected to the Turkish attacks every day. The Damascus government (Syrian government) has been imposing a siege on Shahba while it should stand with us. Their aim is to displace us from here. We will stay in Shahba until we return to Afrin.”

 ‘Nothing can break our resistance’

“Neither attacks nor siege can break our resistance,” said Fatimê Mihemed, who is determined to resist in Shahba until she returns to Afrin.

“We will resist to the end. We have been resisting in Shahba for six years. We will resist in Shahba until we return to Afrin.”