SNA arrests Kurds for not joining protests in Syria’s Afrin
AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – The Suleiman Shah Brigade (al-Amshat), affiliated with the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, aka the Syrian National Army (SNA), raided houses of Kurds in the countryside of Afrin, northwestern Syria. They arrested people who refused to protest against US sanctions on SNA leaders.
Sources told North Press that armed militants of the al-Amshat arrested 18 individuals in the towns of Mabata and Sheikh al-Hadid and forcibly evacuated the families of detainees from 10 houses hours after relatives were detained.
On August 17, the US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) targeted the Suleiman Shah Brigade and the Hamza Division, as well as their leaders, Mohammad Hussein al-Jassem, his younger brother Walid, and Sayf Boulad Abu Bakr, for committing serious human rights abuses against those residing in Afrin region, particularly the Kurds.
The sources added, the SNA factions forced the locals to participate in protests against US sanctions. They charged the detainees with supporting the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
SNA factions detained on Sunday 16 administrative employees in institutions affiliated with the Syrian opposition’s Interim Government for the same reason in the city of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), northern Hasakah Governorate, northeast Syria.
Exclusive sources told North Press that the sanctioned factions forced the administrators of the Mar Toma Syriac Orthodox Church in Sere Kaniye to issue a statement rejecting the sanctions.