Feature: Displaced Syrians homesick and dream for earlier return

When the Islamic State (IS) stormed al-Raqqa province in northern Syria and declared it as a de facto capital in 2014, many people fled and sought refuge in other Syrian cities with hope to return to their homes.

Now, as the Syrian army has unleashed a wide-scale offensive against al-Raqqa, hopes have gone high among those who have been displaced for too long that returning home is no longer a far-fetched dream.

Salah has fled al-Raqqa five years ago, and he had almost lost all hopes of returning before hearing the news a couple of weeks ago about a wide-scale offensive the Syrian army unleashed on al-Raqqa.

"I have fled my home in al-Raqqa to Adra al-Omaliyeh near Damascus, from which I also fled till I reached here in Damascus' town of Hirjalleh. I have left my home because of fear of violence," he said.

The 60-year-old man added he heard on news that the army is advancing into al-Raqqa, describing the news as "the best I have heard in years."

"I think that is a very good move. I have been displaced from one place to another for five years, and I am telling you it's not easy at all."

Salah now lives with his family in a room at a displacement center in Hirjalleh town near the capital Damascus, and sells cigarettes and biscuits to his fellow displaced people at the refugee center to make a living.

Next to him was Sami, a 15-year-old boy, who managed to flee al-Raqqa a couple of months ago with the help of smugglers, who got him out of the city, into the desert all the way to the southern province of Swaida till he was finally transported to Hirjalleh by the authorities.

Sami said his family couldn't run away with him because they didn't have the money to pay the smuggler, so they decided to let him go and save him the threat of IS and their obligatory military service.

His family also decided to let him leave, after the IS militants imprisoned him for five days for showing up late to the prayers.

"When I heard the army and the Kurdish-led fighters were closing in on al-Raqqa, hope was rekindled in my heart that this city would one day be free of the terrorists so that I could return home. All of us need to return home, to return to our jobs and our lives free from the IS terrorists," he said.

Officials tasked with observing the flow of internally displaced people in Syria told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the displacement from al-Raqqa has spiked over the past few months, in what appeared to be people's anticipation of a wide-scale move against the terror group's stronghold.

However, people who have fled speak that they couldn't take it anymore under the rule of IS.

Bassem, a 25-year-old man, told Xinhua he has seen things in al-Raqqa that make the man's hair go white, from the horrible scenes he witnesses.

"I was arrested because they spotted a cigarette in my hand. People don't dare to smoke in public and those who are caught smoking will be subject to a brutal punishment."

Bassem recounted that the IS police, called Husbah, caught a woman on street on charges of showing part of her foot.

"They put her in a cage in a cemetery and left her screaming all night long, until the woman went crazy," he recalled.

All of the horrible practices and the ramped up military offensives against the IS strongholds pushed those people to flee.

Bassem was also smuggled out of al-Raqqa by traffickers who take a considerable amount of money to smuggle people out of the IS strongholds through the deserts.

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have been advancing against the IS stronghold of Manbej in northern Syria, and parts of the northern countryside of al-Raqqa.

The Syrian army has unleashed a wide-scale offensive earlier this month against al-Raqqa, before the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the IS militants managed to reverse the progress of the army in al-Raqqa on Monday.

On June 4, the Syrian army entered Al-Raqqa's administrative borders, days after unleashing a wide-scale offensive against the route between the town of Athriya in the central province of Hama, and the Al-Tabaqa town in Al-Raqqa countryside.

Pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV said the aim of attacking Al-Raqqa is to recapture the town of Al-Tabqa due to its strategic importance.

The route would enable the Syrian army to sever key routes linking Al-Raqqa with the northern province of Aleppo, where IS control some of the border towns near Turkey and from where it smuggles fighters and weapons.

However, the Observatory, a UK-based group, said the IS unleashed a wide-scale counter-offensive, succeeding to push back the army.

Still, military sources stressed that the military campaign against al-Raqqa will continue, despite the setbacks. Endit