Fighting stopped in Ras al-Ayn (also known in Kurdish as Serekaniye) in the beginning of November after the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a militia allied with the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), took control of the city and a large number of villages around it. Al-Nusra Front, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and other Islamist groups were forced to retreat.
Most of the residents of Ras al-Ayn had already fled the fighting that resulted in the Free Syrian Army (FSA)’s victory over government forces in November 2012. Many of those who remained evacuated Ras al-Ayn later on several occasions: when Syrian air warplanes bombed the city, when fighting erupted between the FSA and Islamist factions (resulting in an Islamist victory), and, finally, when the Jihadists defended their control of the city against the YPG.
Now, signs of life are slowly returning to this small, beleaguered city of 40,000 near the Turkish border. People have returned to their homes and their agricultural work, the backbone of economic life in the region. Transportation between border towns on the Syrian side has also become safer although it is still relatively unsafe to cross the border to Turkey.
Piroz Perik took these photographs on November 12, 2013.
The Hasaka road at night. Cars move around the city as some shops re-open in the city's market.
The famous Abu Ali restaurant in Ras al-Ayn. Its owner carries on with his work and expresses relief at how calm the city after the fighting in the city.
The residents of the village of Jafa, 10 kilometres from Ras al-Ayn, return to their houses, many of which were damaged by shelling.
Cotton picking, or “hawaash,” as it is called locally, in the village of Dardara (12 kilometres from Ras al-Ayn) was not possible ten days before this photograph was taken due to the armed clashes.
A man in the village of Dardara gathers cotton in bags ready for transportation.
This young student heads to class in the morning after several schools re-opened.
Regime forces bombed houses in Ras al-Ayn with explosive barrels and vacuum bombs. They stand witness to bitter battles between various factions to gain control over this small city.
The walls and shop doors of Ras al-Ayn are covered with graffiti indicating the passage of various factions through the area. This photograph shows graffiti by the Kurdish People's Protection Units.
A slogan left by fighters of the Islamist group Ghuraba Al-Sham (Strangers of Syria).
Graffiti reads: “The country is ours and we will Burn al-Assad.” The sentence inverts the slogan used by supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad: “Al-Assad or we will burn the country.”
The words "Soldiers of God" are sprayed on a wall. Soldiers of God is an armed opposition group affiliated with the FSA.
Many houses were looted during the battles of Ras al-Ayn.
Several journalists have toured the city since the fighting stopped. This photograph shows a journalist from Badinan TV station, who was accompanied by journalists from Kurdistan TV station. Both stations are from Iraqi Kurdistan.
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