Around 700 displaced Kurdish families returned to an area in northern Syria that was the target of a Turkish invasion seven years ago. Turkey launched what it called the “Peace Spring” operation in the area of Serekaniyeh in northeastern Syria in October 2019. Thousands of Kurds had to flee because of the attack.
Now, the Kurdish media outlet Rudaw says that Kurds can return. This is a result of the new Syrian government’s policies and a reconciliation and integration agreement between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian government. That agreement began in March 2025 but only really got on track after clashes in January. Now that the SDF is being dissolved, there is an expectation that Syria will be largely unified.
This is a major change from years ago. During the Syrian civil war, the SDF was backed by the US to fight ISIS. Turkey viewed the SDF as “terrorists” because it claimed the SDF was linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). As such, Ankara claimed that the US was backing a terrorist army on its border. Turkey reacted to this with several invasions of Syria. The goal of Ankara was essentially to block the SDF advance and then roll back Kurdish gains. The victims were Kurdish civilians who had to flee.
A large-scale disaster for civilians
Ankara began its attacks in 2016 near Manbij and then attacked Afrin in 2018. Serekaniyeh was the final, large operation. Ankara backed Syrian rebel groups it had recruited as proxies, called the SNA, to attack the SDF. Turkey is a member of NATO and a US ally. As such, a NATO ally was using Syrian proxies to fight the US-backed SDF. Instead of Washington or the Pentagon finding a way out of this mess, the fighting was allowed to happen.
Serekaniyeh became a large-scale disaster for civilians. Many of the people in this area had already been victims of the ISIS war. They were trying to rebuild their lives in 2019 when the invasion happened. As fighting broke out between the SDF and Turkey and the SNA, large numbers of people fled.
Now Rudaw says “a second convoy carrying around 700 displaced Kurdish families is set to return to their homes in Sari Kani, northeast Syria (Rojava), on Tuesday, as the governor of Hasaka said preparations for their return are underway.”
“Preparations are underway for the return of around 700 displaced families from Sari Kani to their villages and homes,” Nour al-Din Ahmed told Rudaw’s Nalin Hassan on Monday. He added that “some of these families will return to the city center under the supervision of a special committee formed to monitor the situation.”
Turkey is now returning parts of northern Syria to the Syrian government
This is an important development and comes after Kurds were able to return to Afrin as well. Around 160,000 Kurds had been forced to flee the Turkish invasion there in 2018. Turkey is now returning parts of northern Syria to the Syrian government. Ankara has good ties with the new Syrian government. This is an issue that has troubled Israel. Some Israeli officials and politicians have expressed support for the Kurds in Syria. The Kurds in Syria have sought to choose a different path than the Druze in Suwayda. Rather than seek to continue fighting and ask for Israel’s backing, they have embraced unification and integration.
This has not gone easily. Kurdish students protested on September 8 about the absence of enough Kurdish language instruction in schools. The Syrian government is pushing a mostly Arabic curriculum. Kurds in eastern Syria have been educated in Kurdish for a decade now. As such, they want Kurdish classes.
One element that has enabled the new shifts in eastern Syria is the fact that the PKK is having peace talks with Turkey and may also be dissolved. As such, Ankara no longer has a pretext for staying in Syria. With the SDF dissolving and the PKK ending its conflict, there is no “threat” to Turkey.
Rudaw noted, regarding the return of the Kurds, that “the first convoy of 410 Kurdish families left the Washokani camp in Hasaka for Sari Kani in mid-August. The Syrian Interim Government provided each family with $10,000 to renovate homes that had been occupied by armed groups.” The report noted that some of the families who returned were attacked, apparently by Arabs who were living in the area.
“This committee includes representatives from the security forces, the district administration, the leadership team, the governorate, and local organizations,” Ahmed stated to Rudaw. “The Sari Kani internally displaced persons committee announced that 689 families in the Washokani camp are preparing to return to their lands. This decision was made after security guarantees were provided.”
The report notes that Serekaniyeh, also known as Sari Kani and Ras al-Ain, is a Kurdish-majority city. Like Kurdish Kobani, it has an Arabic name. This is also a disputed issue, as Kurds want these areas to remain with their Kurdish names.
The return this week helps to address a tragedy that unfolded in 2019. The Turkish attack was well planned. It also came after the US and the SDF had tried to comply with Ankara’s demands. Turkey at the time had demanded the SDF remove any defenses in the area and enable joint patrols. At the time, US Central Command was backing the SDF. Meanwhile, Turkey is part of the US European Command’s area of responsibility. Coordination appeared to break down among the White House, the Pentagon, and the State Department back in 2019. Ankara saw an opportunity and pushed forward with its invasion.
At the time, the US briefly considered leaving Syria. It evacuated some posts in the area, not wanting to be in the middle of fighting. It took time for the area to stabilize. Eventually, the US remained, but an area near Serekaniyeh ended up returning to the Syrian regime, and Russian patrols began. This created a mosaic of control with Turkey, the SNA, the Assad regime, Russians, Americans, and the SDF all in the same area. Clashes near an area called Tel Tamer occurred frequently after 2019.
The entire episode in 2019 and in the years that followed illustrated the complexity of the Syrian war. It also illustrates why many Syrians want a return to peace today. They were fed up with being part of several different conflicts, with Iran, Russia, the US, Turkey, and others all playing a role.