Turkey sends bodies of 5 SNA militants killed in Libya to NW Syria
AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – Turkish authorities sent on Monday five bodies of militants of the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, aka the Syrian National Army (SNA), who were sent to fight in Libya, to the countryside of Afrin, northwestern Syria.
A source within the Sultan Suleiman Shah Division, aka al-Amshat, told North Press, Turkish forces transferred the bodies of the five militants through Hamam border crossing with Turkey to one of their posts in the town of Sheikh Hadid (Shiye) in the west of Afrin city.
The source added that two militants were members of al-Amshat Division and the three others of the Faylaq al-Sham faction. The bodies were buried on Tuesday at dawn in Sheikh Hadid.
The relatives of the dead militants said their bodies were extremely rotten despite being put in mortuary freezers. This denies Turkish allegations that the SNA militants were killed due to war violations in Libya, according to the source.
A military commander in the Sultan Muhammad al-Fateh Division told North Press, the dead militants who were delivered from Libya in 2023 were not killed in new battles. They were killed in Libya and their numbers and data had been concealed, to be delivered in batches in order to avoid popular anger against the Turkish army, he said.
In 2019, Turkey recruited hundreds of SNA militants to fight in Libya in return for monthly salaries.