Atarib lies about 25 kilometres west of Aleppo and was occupied in 2012 by Turkish-backed militias who have built a terror regime there. The population of the region is forced to flee between air attacks of the Syrian regime and the terror of the militias. A large number of the region's inhabitants continue to flee to the self-governing neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud (Şêxmeqsûd) in Aleppo.

Many of the refugees are not fleeing for the first time. N. Ş. tells the ANHA news agency: "Because of the attacks on Aleppo, I fled to Jordan and from there to Sheikh Maqsoud. But when the jihadists attacked Sheikh Maqsoud, I was forced to return to Atarib. There the jihadists exercised a cruel arbitrary rule and there were repeated attacks. Therefore I fled to Sahl al-Ghab. I lived there for three years. Then I went back to Atarib because of the bombing."

Due to the bombings and the violence of the occupying militias, N. Ş. had to flee again to Sheikh Maqsoud. He reports on a humanitarian crisis in the entire region occupied by Turkey and the jihadists: "Even basic foodstuffs are unaffordable. There is no running water and people cannot find work."  

N. Ş. had to pay a ransom to HTS (al-Nusra), an Al-Qaida militia closely linked to Turkey, so that he was allowed to leave the region. He reports of daily blackmail by the jihadists, whose rule has left the population "on the brink of the abyss".