SDF’s Mazloum Abdi meets freed health workers after 6 years in detention
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi and Syrian Deputy Defense Minister for the Eastern Region Brig. Gen. Samir Osso on Friday received two healthcare workers who were recently released after being detained for more than six years by factions formerly affiliated with the Syrian National Army (SNA).
Sources familiar with the matter told North Press that Mohammad Alaa Ibrahim and Azad Abdul Karim arrived in Qamishli, in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah Governorate, following their release. The two met with Abdi and Osso, who welcomed them back after years of absence.
Before their detention, Ibrahim and Abdul Karim worked in the healthcare sector of the Internal Security Forces (Asayish). They were captured by SNA factions on October 12, 2019, during Operation Peace Spring, the Turkish military offensive carried out with affiliated Syrian factions against areas in northeast Syria.
The two healthcare workers were detained at the same location where Kurdish politician Hevrin Khalaf was killed near the town of Tel Abyad in northern Raqqa during the offensive. Contact with them was lost throughout their years in detention until their release was announced on Friday.
Human rights organizations previously documented cases of arbitrary detention involving medical personnel and employees of public service institutions affiliated with the Autonomous Administration during Operation Peace Spring in 2019.