ALEPPO COUNTRYSIDE, Syria (North Press) – A 37-year-old displaced man nicknamed Samer al-Halaby, does not dare to go out at night fearing kidnapped by anonymous armed groups.
Al-Halaby displaced from Andan town, north of Aleppo, and he currently lives in Jarablus city in the eastern countryside of Aleppo.
The residents in Jarablus do not go out in the evening after abductions repeatedly occurred in the area mostly targeting the wealthy people in order to extort them for ransoms.
Abductions may also occur as a reason of tribal disputes to demand the handover of a wanted person for revenge reasons in lieu of the abductee.
Military checkpoints run by armed opposition factions as well as civil and military police were deployed at the entrance of Jarablus to limit abductions, yet civilians and military personnel are still kidnapped.
In early September, anonymous people driving a black van with no license plate kidnapped a woman with her little girl nearby Be’ir al-Kosa Camp, south of Jarablus. The kidnappers contacted the woman’s family demanding them to pay a ransom for her release, according to a local source.
The vast area between the city of Jarablus and its countryside has a big role in the spread of bandits who kidnap the residents and take them to unknown places, according to the residents.
Complaints ignored
Al-Halaby is too concerned abductions turn to a prevalent phenomenon in the area. He believes that Turkish-backed armed opposition factions are the only party responsible for kidnappings.
Although relatives of the abducted people file lawsuits against suspects, the cases are ignored by the factions who control the area as if they are involved in the abductions.
Insecurity prevails in Jarablus and other parts held by Turkish forces and their affiliated factions. IED explosions, car bombs, motorcycle bombs, assassinations, abductions, and robberies all take place in these areas although the armed factions divide influence and security and military tasks among each other.
The Turkish forces and their affiliated factions have controlled Jarablus since 2017.
According to the residents, the insecurity and abductions affect their lives in a negative way while the controlling factions are only busy to sway over the area.
Jarablus city comprises many security forces like the Military Police, Civil Police, State Security Branch and Anti-Narcotics Branch. All these security branches are affiliated with the Turkish forces, including the Ninth Armored Division, Sultan Murad Division and Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya Movement among other.
Tribal characteristic
Some abductions are for reasons of revenge between two disputed families as the tribal characteristic dominates the area, al-Halaby said.
Sometimes members of the disputed families involve into direct fighting and use weapons randomly to resolve their disagreements.
The majority of disputes between families tend to have a ‘faction feature’; members of each tribe join a particular faction in order to have protection in case of any disputes rise with another family.
Hussein Tayfoor, an alias for 39-year-old man who works for an NGO in the northern countryside of Aleppo, narrates the abduction story of his friend’s cousin who is a rich person.
“My friend’s cousin was kidnapped by anonymous people who called the abductee’s family a week later and demanded 40,000 USD as a ransom. The money was supposed to be handed to a person in Harem area, in the western countryside of Idlib.”
“The abductee’s family could make sure that their son is held in an area in Idlib city controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and that he was transferred there to disguise his family,” Tayfoor added.
After the abductee’s family made several calls to HTS’ general security department through a mediator close to HTS, the family was asked to take the wanted sum of money to a place which was encircled by HTS militants, Tayfoor claimed.
Later, the mediator was arrested and he reported the gang members responsible for kidnapping his friend’s cousin, according to Tayfoor.