Turkish-backed factions recruit children in Syria’s Afrin
ALEPPO NORTHERN COUNTRYSIDE, Syria (North Press) – Turkish-backed Jaysh al-Islam faction graduated yesterday a new batch of its fighters including underage children, amid a military parade in the city of Afrin, north Syria.
The Turkish-backed faction has graduated 60 armed members, including minors, after undergoing a military and legal training course in its camps in Afrin countryside, a local sources told North Press.
The graduation process took place within a military parade in the city of Afrin, amid tight security measures in the vicinity of the military parade area, the source added.
The source indicated that the age of the recruited children ranged between 13-16 years, and they were subjected to military and legal courses in the faction’s Camp 385, which was established near the village of Gobaleh in the Sherawa district south of Afrin.
The aforementioned faction had previously trained and graduated several batches in Afrin, after its departure from the eastern countryside of Damascus in the summer of 2018, following a settlement process that resulted in the Syrian government’s full control of the area.
The city of Afrin and its villages, north of Aleppo, have been controlled by Turkish forces and the affiliated factions since 2018.
Since then, the region has been witnessing ongoing security chaos accompanied by infighting among militants of the Turkish-backed factions, arrests, and kidnappings in addition to stealing and selling indigenous properties amid the factions’ disability to settle the security and spread safety.