The war begins so quietly that we do not notice it until it is there. We see the contrails in the sky and wonder: Are they from a drone? From an airplane? Then it pops. The peace is over. From now on war rules.
No one had wanted to believe it the day before.
"Is Trump going to work again?" Jokes the border official as we enter northern Syria on Tuesday. We are the photographer Alice Martins and me. Actually, we want to visit camps where former IS members are being held. Shortly before our plane touches down on the runway in Erbil, Iraq, US President Donald Trump announces the withdrawal of American troops from northern Syria. This threatens a chain reaction: Turkey has long wanted to take action against the Kurdish militia YPG, which controls the region. Now head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a free hand.
Will Turkey now invade Syria? The woman who controls our passports as we cross the border from Iraq to Syria does not believe in it. We hope she is right.
We drive north to the city of Ras al-Ayn. There, right on the border between Syria and Turkey, hundreds of people protest against a possible attack. The mood is peaceful: In front of the houses women sit in the evening sun and drink tea, children play in the street. In between, fighters scurry around in camouflage clothing, preparing for a Turkish offensive. The families who live here will not be bothered. They are convinced that Erdogan only threatens but will not attack. 120 kilometers to the west, Turkish troops are already preparing for this moment.
There are news everywhere, but no one is watching
All signs are on war, and yet nobody seems to want to see him. We spend the night in Kamischli, a city on the Syrian-Turkish border. In the evening, the streets are full of people. In every café the TV shows the news, but the visitors do not look. They talk and hope that everyday life goes on.
When we drive to the border again on Wednesday, everything is different. Erdogan has announced to attack within 24 hours. Yesterday the freeway was empty - now dozens of trucks, cars and buses arrive. Many families have their entire household packed on the loading area: clothing, refrigerators, furniture. At the roadside women and toddlers sit and wait for a ride. When finally a bus arrives, panic breaks out, everyone wants to get on board at once. The driver requires five times the normal price. If you can not pay, go on foot.
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Ras al-Ayn, which was a bustling place the day before, is orphaned. The shops are closed, the streets are deserted. But there are still hundreds of civilians waiting behind the windows. They do not want to give up their homeland. What will become of them if there is fighting soon?
And then we see them, the stripes in the sky. They announce the Turkish fighter jets. Shortly afterwards we hear the first bang and the howling of ambulances. Smoke rises in the distance. All cars are racing south, we just want to get out of Ras al-Ayn. Many people have still not found a ride and flee on foot across the fields.
Mortar shells hit during the night
Kamischli is located outside the region, which wants to attack Turkey officially. People believe that they are safe here. Although the city belongs to the quasi-autonomous Kurdish region, part of it is still held by the Syrian regime. Erdogan, many think, will not risk bombarding supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, thus provoking a second conflict. We are wrong.
At night, mortar shells hit the city, we hear the explosions. The Turkish soldiers want to hit targets of the YPG, but they miss. The floors are instead landed in residential buildings. A couple gets seriously injured when a grenade falls into their garden. A boy dies as a bullet hits his home.
With every hour, the fear in the city rises. Rumors are circulating: The Kurdish guards are said to have been withdrawn from the IS prison we originally intended to visit. They say they are needed at the front. The message is not correct, but panic is spreading. The "Islamic State" (IS) is battered but not defeated: many fighters have gone underground, waiting for an opportunity to strike again.
Video: IS members allegedly fled camps in northern Syria
ERDEM SAHIN / EPA-EFE / REX
Now people are not just afraid of the Turkish troops. But also that the IS returns, who terrorized the area for so long. The Kurds who are engaged in the attack of Turkey could not protect their population in this case.
Is there really a threat of an IS attack? How are the struggles at the border developing? The Kurdish authorities are silent. The area around our hotel empties.
On Friday, a car explodes in front of a restaurant where we had eaten the day before. Several people die, the IS claims the attack for themselves. Five Islamists break out of a jail a few miles from our hotel. At night we hear shots and detonations.
How far will Turkey advance? Is the IS coming back? And what about the future of northern Syria? Nobody knows. Only one thing is certain: The war, which started so quietly, is now very loud.