Syrians return to Jarabulus from Turkey after IS ousted

PanARMENIAN.Net - Hundreds of civilians began returning to the border town of Jarabulus in northern Syria on Wednesday, September 7, two weeks after pro-Ankara fighters recaptured it from Islamic State (IS) jihadists, AFP said.

Loaded with luggage and domestic items, the residents headed for the frontier and queued for customs inspection at the border gate outside the Turkish town of Karkamis, an AFP photographer said.

Held by IS since 2013, Jarabulus was on August 24 easily retaken by pro-Ankara fighters supported by Turkish tanks and aviation on the first day of the over two-week Turkish incursion into Syria.

Turkish state media have subsequently broadcast footage repeatedly of life returning to normal inside Jarabulus following the departure of IS, showing shops re-opening and children playing in the streets.

Turkish forces and the Ankara-backed rebels are pressing on with the operation inside Syria, which is also targeting a Kurdish militia Ankara regards as a terror group.

However it remains unclear how prepared Turkey and its allies are to press deep inside Syria to retake from IS the town of Al-Bab further to the south or even the jihadists’ de-facto capital of Raqqa.

Turkey is home to some 2.7 million refugees from the conflict in Syria, but only around 10 percent live in refugee camps, with the rest living in towns and cities across the country, mainly in the southeast.

Ankara has said it is happy to host the refugees but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly mooted creating a safe zone inside Syria to house them, possibly in a brand new city.