Inside the women-only village engulfed by Turkey’s war in Syria

When I visited Jinwar a year ago, families were beginning to move in. Thirty simple homes had been built and crops had recently been planted in the surrounding farmland. But yesterday, its residents were forced to flee

Abandoning Jinwar only proved they were right: a symbol of opposition to war has been engulfed by one (Richard Hall/The Independent)

The village of Jinwar, in the plains of northeast Syria, was supposed to be a sanctuary from men and their wars.

It was built by women who had just emerged from years of living under the constant threat of Isis, not far from where the borders of the caliphate once reached.

When I visited a year ago, families were beginning to move in. Thirty simple homes had been built and there were plans for even more. Crops had recently been planted in the surrounding farmland. Flowerbeds were in bloom.