ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - A convoy of about 200 families arrived Saturday in northern Hasakah from Qamishli en route to Afrin, as part of ongoing efforts to facilitate the return of residents to their hometowns under a January agreement between Rojava (northeast Syria) and Damascus.

After nearly eight years of displacement, a first batch of 400 families from northern Syria’s Kurdish city of Afrin returned home from Hasaka last month as part of the late January agreement between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Damascus.

Syrian state media on Saturday announced the return of another convoy of about 200 Afrin families.

The operation is being conducted under the supervision of the presidential team in charge and in coordination with the concerned parties, according to SANA, Syria’s state-run news outlet.

On January 29, SDF announced that it had reached a “comprehensive agreement” with Damascus to enable a phased integration process of the Kurdish-led forces into the Syrian state after weeks-long clashes between both sides.

One of the key provisions of the agreement is the safe return of the displaced residents in Afrin and Sari Kani.

SDF chief Mazloum Abdi met on the same day with Syrian presidential envoy Ziad al‑Ayesh, responsible for monitoring the January agreement. The pair discussed the return of displaced people to the Kurdish areas and creating suitable conditions for their return.

“This meeting comes as a step forward to strengthen field understandings and translate them into concrete actions that serve the public interest and push towards lasting stability in the region,” read a statement from the Kurdish-led internal security forces (Asayish) whose commander, Mahmoud Khalil was also present in the meeting.

Afrin, a Kurdish-majority city in northern Syria, was taken over in 2018 by Turkey and its proxies, leading to the displacement of more than 137,000 native residents.

Following the 2018 offensive, residents fled to Aleppo’s northern Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods. They were once again subjected to hardship and displacement after attacks by factions affiliated with Damascus in early January, forcing them to relocate multiple times before reaching areas then held by the SDF.