Thousands of people from Afrin and surrounding villages have been forcibly displaced and settled in Shehba, while their houses have been turned into military posts and prisons by the occupying Turkish army. 

Xelîl Mistefa, who had to emigrate from the village of Xawenda in Raco told ANHA: “The occupiers looted all the goods in our house. Likewise the houses of all the people who were forced to leave Afrin were plundered and the goods sold. Our houses were turned into military centers and prisons.”

Mistefa added that they live in difficult conditions in Shehba. "We will continue to resist - he said - with our strong will until we’ll return to Afrin.” 

Leyla Ehmed from the village of Hiyama in Bilbilê said: “After the Turkish soldiers and their mercenaries plundered all my goods in my house, they set it on fire. They later restored my house for the family of a mercenary. That family is living in my house right now while my family and I have to cope with a very difficult situation in this place, out of our city.”

Zeyneb Şêxo said that after working in the fields for a long time, they could finally buy a house. “The Turkish state occupied Afrin and gave my house to a family brought from Eastern Ghouta. That family took all our belongings and is living in our house now.”