Muhammed Hüseyin is 31 years old and is from Karagöz, one of the peripheral villages of Shehba’s Çobanbey (Rai) district. Because Karagöz is a Kurdish village, it has been handled differently by ISIS from 2013 to 2016 and by the Turkish army and gangs from 2016 onwards.

Muhammed Hüseyin was in Lebanon, but returned to his village to save his family and they had to suffer through both ISIS and Turkish state atrocities. Muhammed Huseyin escaped Rai 2 months ago and joined the Jabhat Al Akrad, and he spoke to the ANF about his experience.

BEING KURDISH WAS ENOUGH

“I was working in Lebanon. I returned to the village to pick up my family, but ISIS wouldn’t let us. They took me away on the third day I returned from Lebanon. I was detained and released countless times. Every time I was tortured. Just being a Kurd was a ‘crime’. My uncle and many of my acquaintances were murdered. They used to hold execution ceremonies in Rai. Of course other people suffered too, but the Kurds suffered the worst. They abducted us, and released us after taking large amounts of ransom. They took our property, our fields, our home. We had to pay rent for our own home.

TURKISH TYRANNY WAS WORSE

“The Turkish army and their gangs entered our territory without clashing with ISIS. ISIS retreated when they arrived. The ISIS members we knew suddenly turned into Turkish gangs’ members. They hit our village with jet and mortars even though there were no ISIS members left in our village. A family with two children were murdered there. Only one child survived from another family. The Turkish army and their gangs first terrorized Kurds and then Arabs. They pillaged through all the Kurdish villages. They told us to leave because we are Kurdish. They gave our property to Turkish gang members they brought from Hama and Homs and their families. Kurds were first dispossessed, and then the area was cleared of Kurds. This continues still.

“After the Kurds, it was the Arabs’ turn. They robbed wealthy Arabs. Some Arabs who said they escaped Assad’s tyranny were met with slurs like ‘dirty Arabs’. An Arab man from Homs said, ‘They took everything from us here. They took our dignity, our honor, our everything. It would have been better than this tyranny if Bashar had killed us.’ and returned.

JOINED JABHAT AL AKRAD

“I came 2 months ago and joined the Jabhat Al Akrad. I regret not joining sooner. I am hoping to drive the Turkish state out of our lands, liberate Shehba and resettle in my own village. We must push the Turkish state out of Shehba.”