The Chechen minority in eastern Syria, known as al-Jazira al-Souriya, has been dwindling after the Kurdish Democratic Union Party took control of Ras al-Ain, north of al-Hasakah and the Khabour River source area, which were considered the central areas of their presence over the past two centuries.
According to sources from the Chechen population in the region, the number of Chechen families in the Ras al-Ain region has halved after dozens of families migrated to Turkey and Europe following the Kurdish Democratic Union Party taking control of the city after clashes with the Free Syrian Army battalions in the city in 2012 and 2013.
In a telephone call, sources explained that the Party’s fighters seized the houses and lands of Chechen families whose children were fighting with the Free Syrian Army or whose sons were killed in the fight against the Party. According to the local sources, the Party fighters vandalized and looted dozens of houses in Ras al-Ain on charges that the house owners were cooperating with the Free Syrian Army and Islamic factions.
According to the local source, more than 30 families migrated to Turkey and Europe. Also, the Chechen minority in Syria maintains an endogamous marriage tradition (only marrying co-ethnics) and a single child custom, so 90 families are threatened with extinction for having no descendants. There are around 300 Chechen families in al-Hasakah, but between migration and the strict marriage customs, the numbers are dwindling.
Chechens in the Syrian al-Jazira region are split between staunch opponents to the al-Assad regime and others who are supporters. Some of the Chechen minority are fighting alongside the Democratic Union Party militia. A military battalion that fights with the Party forces was formed in 2014 under the command of Khalid Shawish from the village of al-Safeh one of the most important Chechen villages south of Ras al-Ain.
According to websites and blogs interested in affairs of Syrian al-Jazira Chechens, there were 3000 Chechen families at the beginning of the last century, and the number has declined by 90% at the beginning of this century due to lack of reproduction. Between the war and the strict marriage traditions and customs followed by these families, their numbers have reduced to less than half during the last ten years.
The Kurdish People Protection Units took control of Ras al-Ain in the summer of 2013 after it revoked a truce agreement signed with the Free Syrian Army. The Kurdish forces exploited the Free Syrian Army battalions heading towards al-Shadadi area to participate in the ‘Burkan al-Sharq’ battle against the regime to take control of the al-Milbiyet regiment south of al-Hasakah at that time
