For weeks, Turkey has been bombing areas in northeastern Syria and fighting by proxy through the Syrian opposition groups loyal to it against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Ain Issa, Manbij and the Aleppo countryside. The latter areas are under the control of the SDF, backed by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State in Syria.

Ilham Ahmed, head of the Syrian Democratic Council’s executive committee, the SDF’s political wing, reassured civilians that no new Turkish operation will strike their areas. Ahmed’s statement came during a press interview on Oct. 10, one year after Turkey's Operation Peace Spring against the SDF on Oct. 9, 2019, killed and displaced many civilians.

However, the residents are apprehensive. Nubar Zaven is from the city of Tell Abyad in northeastern Syria and now lives in Armenia. After a military squad from the Syrian opposition army seized his property in 2019, he had to move with his family to Hasakah. Zaven later made it to Armenia, but his parents and his two sisters were unable to travel and are still stuck in Hasakah. He told Al-Monitor that he and his family fear a new Turkish occupation of northern Syria.

“Turkish artillery never stopped bombing populated villages in Manbij and Ain Issa throughout the entire month [of October]. This indicates that Turkey will carry out its threats and occupy the entire Syrian border strip, as it did last year,” Zaven added.