Turkish-backed armed group in Afrin kidnapping youths under pretext of self-defense service

Afrin – North-Press Agency

Muhammad al-Ahmad

The Turkish-backed armed opposition groups continue their war-crimes and violations in the Syrian-Kurdish region of Afrin, which are manifested by kidnappings of the indigenous people under false pretexts and excuses, as well as torturing of the kidnapped and threatening their families to kill them.

Local sources told North-Press that Turkey's affiliated armed group “Liwa Waqas” has kidnapped two young men from the same family, residents of the village of Anqala, in the district of Sheikh al-Hadid of Afrin region yesterday. The sources indicated that “Liwa Waqas” militant group kidnapped the two young men Rashid Jerko and Muhammad Jerko, born in 1992, on the pretext of previously serving the duty of self-defense, before Turkish military and its affiliated armed groups controlled over the region in the beginning of 2018.

The sources pointed out that the fate of the two young men is still unknown amid fears for their lives, where the Violations Documentation Center in northern Syria (VDC-NSY) has documented dozens of kidnappings, including the abduction of 12 women in Afrin since the beginning of last November by the Turkish-backed armed opposition groups.

Turkey and its armed opposition groups took control over the Afrin region on 18 March, 2018, after fierce battles with the People’s Protection Units YPG, as the Turkish occupation caused the displacement of about 350,000 indigenous people From Afrin into Aleppo’s northern countryside and other areas in northern Syria.