BEIRUT: Mustafa, a 21-year-old Syrian in Turkey, was at the shoe factory in Istanbul where he worked making army boots when three policemen stormed in, asking if everyone had their papers. He and three other Syrian refugees did not.
Within a day, Mustafa and a busload of other refugees would be driven to Turkey’s southern border and forced to go back to their war-torn country.
“They told us things like, ‘Don’t come back to Turkey’ and ‘Go liberate your country’. Things like that,” Mustafa recalled, speaking by phone to The Associated Press from his hometown of Salqin in the opposition-held Syrian province of Idlib. He asked that his full name not be published, fearing for his safety.
Mustafa is among hundreds of Syrian refugees who have been detained and reportedly forcibly deported to Syria in the past month, according to accounts by refugees to the AP. The expulsions reflect rising anti-refugee sentiment in a country that once flung open its borders to millions of Syrians fleeing civil war.
For weeks, Turkey has been carrying out a campaign to re-inforce its rules requiring Syrian refugees to stay in cities where they are registered with the government. Accounts by Mustafa and other Syrians suggest that along with that campaign, some unregistered refugees are being forced out of the country. The AP interviewed six Syrians who said they were among large groups deported to Syria in the past month.
The Turkish government categorically denies claims of forced deportations for registered and unregistered Syrians, saying only voluntary returns are allowed. Turkey is bound by an international law that protects against return to a country where a person faces persecution.
“I am officially denying such claims, it is not possible,” said Ramazan Secilmis, an official with the Directorate General of Migration Management. He said 337,000 Syrians have voluntarily returned over the course of the war to Turkish-controlled zones in northern Syria.
But in a report late last month, Human Rights Watch accused authorities of detaining and coercing Syrians into signing “voluntary return forms” before returning them to danger. It called on authorities to protect the basic rights of all Syrians regardless of registration status.
There are no statistics on those forcibly returned. The Bab Al-Hawa crossing — one of several crossings run by Syrian opposition authorities — saw 6,160 deportees from Turkey in July, a 40 percent jump from the month before, according to an infographic on the crossing’s official Twitter page. It did not elaborate on the circumstances of the deportations.
Asked by the AP if it was aware of any forced deportations, the UN refugee agency’s Turkey spokesperson Selin Unal said in an emailed statement that it was “following up on a number of reported cases” related to unregistered Syrians. Unal said it “could not confirm that large numbers” of registered refugees had been returned to Syria.
“UNHCR’s priority is that persons in need of international protection continue to benefit from this protection,” the statement said.
Turkey opened its borders to Syrians in April 2011 and is currently home to 3.6 million who fled the civil war, now in its ninth year.
But as Turkey suffers an economic downturn and rising unemployment, calls among Turks for Syrians to go home are growing. Analysts say rising resentment against Syrians was one reason President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party lost the race for mayor of Istanbul in June.
An opinion survey conducted by the PIAR research center last month showed that 82.3% of the respondents agreed with the statement: “All Syrians must be sent back, I don’t like the government’s policy.” The research was conducted with 2,460 people in 26 provinces.
Under Turkey’s system, Syrians register with the government and obtain “temporary protection” status, receiving an ID card known in Turkish as a “kimlik.” The ID card allows refugees to obtain permission to work. But they are required to remain in the specific province where they obtain their registration.
Istanbul, Turkey’s most populous city — which hosts the largest number of registered Syrians, nearly 548,000 — stopped accepting new registrations last year, with authorities insisting it cannot absorb any more. But many Syrians from elsewhere have flocked to the city over the years for work.
In July, Istanbul’s governor gave all Syrians not registered in Istanbul a deadline to leave the city or be forcibly removed. The deadline was initially supposed to run out on Tuesday, but Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told Haberturk television late on Tuesday that it had been extended for two months, until Oct. 30.
However, even for weeks before the initial deadline, police have been doing frequent checks on Syrian IDs.
Mustafa, who had come to Turkey in 2017 and was not yet registered, was caught in one of those checks.
He said he had been trying in vain to obtain a “kimlik” in Istanbul. Finally, a week before his arrest, he found a lawyer who could arrange one in the nearby city of Bursa. Mustafa did the application, and the lawyer told him to come on Monday, July 22 to Bursa to obtain the ID card.
But the police raid came the preceding Friday. Mustafa and the two other unregistered Syrians in the workshop were piled into a bus that quickly filled with other Syrians. At a nearby police station, they were ordered to sign papers in Turkish, which they could not read.
Mustafa said they were then taken to a larger police station, where they were handcuffed and put on a bus with other Syrians. They were driven for 24 hours to the border province of Hatay, where they were dropped off at an informal crossing into Syria.
Now back in Idlib, Mustafa is searching for a way to support his mother and sisters. “It is very difficult and I take care of a whole family,” he said. “There is war here. Nothing else.”
Abdullah Abdulkader, a Syrian who was working at a laundry in the southern city of Gaziantep, was with two Syrian friends heading to get dinner when police asked for their IDs.
The 27-year-old said he had registered four months ago but had still not received the “kimlik.” When he told the officer he did not have it, he was slapped, handcuffed and detained in a car for seven hours. He and several other Syrians were taken by bus to the southern city of Antakya, where they spent the night at a police station without food or drink.
The next day, he was given a choice: pay a fine equivalent to $644 and spend three months in jail, or be deported. He chose deportation.
He then had to sign a number of documents in Turkish which he was told said he could not return to Turkey for the next five years. Another document which he shared with the AP had Arabic translation. It affirmed that he is voluntarily returning to Syria even after he was informed by authorities about the security situation in his country.
Abdulkader, now in the northern Syrian town of Afrin, says he never wants to go back to Turkey.
“We went there and got deported. What more humiliation can there be?” he said. “I will search for work and will find work here.”
In Istanbul, some Syrians are hiding from the intensified controls.
Yousef Abbas, a 26-year-old from Aleppo, is registered in the city of Izmir but works in Istanbul’s vast tourism sector. “I am afraid. I don’t go out. Why? Because I would get caught,” he said earlier this week.
If he goes back to Izmir, he would be separated from his wife and children, registered in Istanbul.
Didem Danis, president of Association for Migration Research in Istanbul, said that in the first years of the Syrians’ arrival, “there was quite a positive attitude toward the newcomers.”
“But this has been going down throughout the years, and in the last two years especially as the Turkish economy goes down.”
Mohammad Wael, a Syrian from Damascus who is registered in Istanbul, works in a kebab shop in the city’s “Little Syria” district. He calls the treatment of Syrians “unacceptable.”
“If you go to the pharmacy, they will point at us as ‘those are Syrians.’ If you walk in the street, they will point at us, ‘those are Syrians.’ If we enter a supermarket, they will point at us, ‘those are Syrians’,” he said.
“Syrians are like the Turks, both are human beings and both are Muslims.”
As warm welcome chills, Turkey clamps down on Syrians
As warm welcome chills, Turkey clamps down on Syrians

- Human Rights Watch accused authorities of detaining and coercing Syrians into signing “voluntary return forms” before returning them to danger
- Turkey has been carrying out a campaign to re-inforce its rules requiring Syrian refugees to stay in cities where they are registered with the government
Palestinian official says Israeli forces killed West Bank teen with US citizenship

- Settler violence in the West Bank, including incursions into occupied territory and raids on Bedouin villages and encampments, has intensified since the Gaza war began in October 2023
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: A Palestinian official told AFP that Israeli forces shot dead a teenager holding US citizenship in the occupied West Bank Sunday, while the Israeli military said it had killed a “terrorist” who threw rocks at cars.
Omar Muhammad Saadeh Rabee, a 14-year-old “who was killed in Turmus Ayya, held US citizenship,” the town’s mayor, Lafi Shalabi, told AFP.
The Israeli military said that during “counter-terrorism activity” in Turmus Ayya, “soldiers identified three terrorists who hurled rocks toward the highway, thus endangering civilians driving.”
“The soldiers opened fire toward the terrorists who were endangering civilians, eliminating one terrorist and hitting two additional terrorists,” a military statement added.
The Palestinian health ministry said one person was in critical condition and another suffered minor injuries in the same incident.
Shalabi said one of the wounded also had US citizenship. And Turmus Ayya, northest of the main West Bank city of Ramallah, is known for having many dual US-Palestinian citizens.
The Palestine Red Crescent said its teams had taken the body of the deceased boy to a hospital. It also reported the injuries of two boys shot in the lower abdomen and thigh respectively, during “clashes” in Turmus Ayya.
One of the two, 14-year-old Abdul Rahman Shehadeh, told AFP he was shot by a soldier while collecting fruit near the town.
The second, who was shot in the abdomen, was identified as 14-year-old Ayoub Asaad by his father Ahed Asaad. He confirmed that the boy had a US passport.
Ahed Assad said that an ambulance that took his wounded son to hospital was stopped by soldiers.
“We were stopped at a military checkpoint at the village entrance, and a soldier told me that he was the one who shot the three boys,” he told AFP.
The Palestinian Authority’s foreign affairs ministry denounced the Israeli forces’ “use of live fire against three children.”
“Israel’s continued impunity as an illegal occupying power encourages it to commit further crimes,” it added.
Violence has soared in the West Bank since the Gaza war started on October 7, 2023.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 918 Palestinians, including militants, in the West Bank since then, according to Palestinian health ministry figures.
Palestinian attacks and clashes during military raids have killed at least 33 Israelis, including soldiers, over the same period, according to official figures.
Israel has occupied the West Bank, home to about three million Palestinians, since 1967.
Hamas fires rockets at Israeli cities, Israel issues evacuation orders in Gaza

- Israel’s Channel 12 television said at least 12 lightly injured people have been treated as a result of the rocket firing from Gaza, quoting officials at the Bazilai Hospital in Ashkelon
JERUSALEM/CAIRO: Palestinian militant group Hamas said it fired a barrage of rockets at cities in Israel’s south on Sunday in response to Israeli “massacres” of civilians in Gaza.
Israel’s military said about 10 projectiles were fired, but most were successfully intercepted. Israel’s Channel 12 reported a direct hit in the southern city of Ashkelon.
Israeli emergency services said they were treating one person for shrapnel injuries, and teams were en route to locations of fallen rockets. Smashed car windows and debris lay strewn on a city street, videos disseminated by Israeli emergency services showed.
Meanwhile, Gaza local health authorities said Israeli military strikes killed at least 39 people across the Gaza Strip on Sunday.
Shortly after the rocket firing, the Israeli military posted on X a new evacuation order, instructing residents of several districts in Deir Al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip to leave their areas, citing earlier rocket firing.
“This is a final warning before the attack,” the military warning statement said.
Later, it said it struck the rocket launcher from which projectiles were launched earlier from the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on a flight to Washington for a meeting with US President Donald Trump, was briefed on the rocket attack by his Defense Minister, Israel Katz.
A statement issued by his office said Netanyahu instructed that a “vigorous” response be carried out and approved the continuation of intensive activity by the Israeli military against Hamas.
Israel’s Channel 12 television said at least 12 lightly injured people have been treated as a result of the rocket firing from Gaza, quoting officials at the Bazilai Hospital in Ashkelon.
The first phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into force on January 19 after 15 months of war and involved a halt to fighting, the release of some of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and the freeing of some Palestinian prisoners.
However, Israel said on March 19 that its forces resumed ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip. Both parties blamed one another for a stalemate in the ceasefire talks.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Palestinian officials say. Israel began its offensive after thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Syria’s president to visit Turkiye and UAE next week

- Sharaa and other members of the new Syrian leadership have been working to strengthen ties with both Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive in December, led by Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham
BEIRUT: Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa will make his first visit to the United Arab Emirates and is also scheduled to visit Turkiye next week, the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday, as he continues to garner support for the new administration.
Sharaa, who previously visited Turkiye in February, will make the UAE his second Gulf destination after traveling to
Saudi Arabia that same month on his first foreign trip since assuming the presidency in January.
He and other members of the new Syrian leadership have been working to strengthen ties with both Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive in December, led by Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham.
Sharaa and his officials have also called for a full lifting of sanctions on Syria.
Syria is in desperate need of sanctions relief to kick start an economy collapsed by nearly 14 years of war, during which the United States, the UK and Europe placed tough sanctions on people, businesses and whole sectors of Syria’s economy in a bid to squeeze now-ousted leader Assad.
Moroccans protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza and take aim at Trump

- Moroccan authorities tolerate most protests, but have arrested some activists who have rallied in front of businesses or foreign embassies or implicated the monarchy in their complaints
- More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed as part of Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants
RABAT, Morocco: Tens of thousands of Moroccans on Sunday protested Israel’s latest offensive in Gaza, putting fury toward US President Donald Trump near the center of their grievances.
In the largest protest Morocco has seen in months, demonstrators denounced Israel, the United States and their own government. Some stepped on Israeli flags, held banners showing slain Hamas leaders and waved posters juxtaposing Trump alongside displaced Palestinians fleeing their homes.
Organizers condemned Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since Israel renewed air and ground strikes last month, aimed at pressuring Hamas to release remaining hostages.

Such protests have erupted across the Middle East and North Africa, where leaders typically worry about demonstrations undermining domestic stability. Pro-Palestinian rallies were also staged this weekend in the capitals of Tunisia and Yemen as well as in Morocco’s most populous city Casablanca.
In countries that have historically aligned with the US, anti-Trump backlash has emerged as a theme. Demonstrators in Rabat on Sunday condemned his proposal to displace millions of Palestinians to make way for the redevelopment of Gaza. as well as the US efforts to pursue pro-Palestinian activists.
Still, many Moroccans said they saw Trump’s policies as mostly consistent with his predecessor, Joe Biden’s.
“(Trump) has made the war worse,” said Mohammed Toussi, who traveled from Casablanca with his family to protest.
“Biden hid some things but Trump has shown it all,” he added, likening their positions but not their messaging.
Protesters, Toussi said, remain angry about Morocco’s 2020 decision to normalize ties with Israel.
Abdelhak El Arabi, an adviser to Morocco’s former Islamist prime minister, said the reasons Moroccans were protesting had grown throughout the war. He predicted popular anger would continue until the war ends.
“It’s not a war, Gaza is getting erased from the earth,” the 62-year-old Tamesna resident said.
Demonstrations have included a range of groups, including the Islamist association al Adl Wal Ihsan. Moroccan authorities tolerate most protests, but have arrested some activists who have rallied in front of businesses or foreign embassies or implicated the monarchy in their complaints.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Most have since been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed as part of Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants. The war has left most of Gaza in ruins, and at its height displaced around 90 percent of the population.
Sudan activists sound alarm on ‘catastrophic’ situation in besieged Darfur city

- According to UN estimates, around two million people face extreme food insecurity in North Darfur state, with 320,000 already suffering famine conditions
KHARTOUM: Civilians trapped in Sudan’s El-Fasher city are facing “catastrophic” conditions, activists warned on Sunday, with their situation rapidly deteriorating amid a months-long paramilitary siege.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have taken most of the vast Darfur region in their war against the regular army since April 2023, but El-Fasher in North Darfur remains the only regional state capital the RSF has not conquered.
A local advocacy group, the Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees, said in a statement that residents “bear the brunt of artillery shelling” and live “with the sounds of aircraft and their terrifying and deadly missiles, in addition to the daily suffering of hunger, disease and drought.”
Life in El-Fasher and other areas of Darfur “has come to a complete standstill,” the group said, with no food at markets and a “complete halt” in humanitarian aid.
There was a sharp rise in prices of basic commodities and “a severe shortage in cash,” it added, warning of an “unprecedented and catastrophic deterioration” in already dire conditions in and around El-Fasher.
The RSF-aligned armed group Sudan Liberation Army called on Saturday for civilians in El-Fasher and the nearby displacement camps of Abu Shouk and Zamzan to leave, warning of an “escalation of military operations.”
Another RSF ally, the Gathering of Sudan Liberation Forces, said it was ready to “provide safe corridors” for residents to leave and head to “liberated areas” under paramilitary control.
In late March, the RSF announced its fighters had seized Al-Malha, which lies at the foot of a mountainous region 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of El-Fasher.
Al-Malha is one of the northernmost towns in the vast desert region between Sudan and Libya, where the RSF’s critical resupply lines have come under increasing attack in recent months by army-allied groups.
The war has created what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst hunger and displacement crises. More than 12 million people have been uprooted, tens of thousands killed and a UN-backed assessment declared famine in parts of the country.
According to UN estimates, around two million people face extreme food insecurity in North Darfur state, with 320,000 already suffering famine conditions.
Zamzam is one of three displacement camps around El-Fasher hit by famine, which a UN-backed assessment says is expected to spread to five more areas including the state capital itself by May.