Villagers in Syria’s Tel Abyad protest against Turkish-backed opposition groups

TEL ABYAD, Syria (North Press) – Inhabitants of the villages surrounding the Turkish-occupied city of Tel Abyad (Gire Spi) protested against Turkish-backed armed opposition groups on Friday, demanding that the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, who control the city, release several individuals detained by the Syrian National Army on charges of working with the Autonomous Administration-affiliated Syrian Democratic Forces. A video

on journalist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently’s Facebook page reportedly shows a crowd of people in Tel Abyad, chanting “Allahu Akbar” with women in the crowd shouting “we want our children,” and “they were wronged.”

This incident is far from the first time that local residents, whether settlers who arrived in the region after the Turkish invasion or original inhabitants, have expressed their anger at the Turkish military or their affiliated armed opposition groups.

Turkey has long been the guarantor for opposition groups in Syria, though popular support for the country’s intervention in the Syrian conflict is fading amid reports of multiple violations, including theft, rape, kidnapping, extortion, and murder, by Turkish forces and their affiliated opposition groups. Syrian National Army abuses are well-documented by both local and international organizations, including the widely-publicized execution and subsequent mutilation of the body of Syrian Kurdish politician Hevrin Khalaf in October 2019.

In addition to the violations, many opposition groups are also dissatisfied with Turkey’s cooperation with Syrian regime ally Russia, leading opposition militants to join in protests against Russian-Turkish patrols. In April of this year, local residents and members of armed opposition groups staged sit-ins on the M4 highway against the passage of joint Russian-Turkish patrols on the road. These protests were later violently broken up by Turkish forces and opposition fighters, causing deaths and injuries and leading to resentment among locals.

An opposition military official in Tel Abyad told Syrian news agency Enab Baladi that the individuals currently detained there have been imprisoned without trial since October last year, but that they will be tried “in the coming days.”