Streets strewn with rubble and piles of ruins the place their houses as soon as stood.
That is what displaced residents are confronted with upon returning to their city of Tal Rifaat in northern Syria, a vital battleground within the battle between Syrian Kurdish fighters and Turkish armed teams.
Throughout Syria’s conflict, Tal Rifaat grew to become a part of the repeated cycles of combating and displacement which have performed out since antigovernment protests erupted within the nation in 2011.
Syrian Kurdish forces took management of the city in 2016, displacing most of its inhabitants. Somewhere else, just like the city of Afrin, Kurdish residents had been displaced after Turkish-backed forces took management, and plenty of fled to Tal Rifaat.
In December final yr, throughout a lightning offensive by opposition fighters that led to the elimination of President Bashar al-Assad, the tables had been turned once more as Turkish-backed forces seized Tal Rifaat from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF.
Indicators of hurried departures are seen in every single place — deserted belongings, scattered particles, and makeshift barricades rapidly dismantled.
Nonetheless, the folks of Tal Rifaat say they’re busy clearing the rubble and getting their lives again on monitor.
