NGO documents arrest of 117 in Turkish-occupied Syrian areas in August
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Turkish-backed armed Syrian opposition factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA), arrested at least 117 individuals in one month.
The arrestees included 9 women and 12 children, according to a report publicized on Saturday by Hevdesti Synergy Association for Victims, a non-governmental and non-profit organization working on documenting all violations in northeastern Syria.
The report documented the arrests in the cities of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), Tel Abyad and Afrin during August.
“The biggest toll of the detentions was felt in Afrin, where 107 persons were arrested, including 8 women and 11 children,” the report read.
In Sere Kaniye, ten individuals were arrested, including a woman and a child, while 21 individuals were released, according to the association.
The report added, “Only 21 persons out of the total toll of the arrestees were released, among them two women and three children.”
However, 96 individuals, including seven women and nine children, are still facing unknown fate.
Speaking of reasons for the arrest, the association went further saying, “Some were accused of dealing with the Autonomous Administration or formerly working in its institutions. Others were accused of trying to cross to Turkey illegally. Some others were arrested in order to extort their families and get a ransom.”
It highlighted that the SNA’s police forces were responsible for 50% of the arrests in Afrin in August.
The association, in documenting the arrests, relied on testimonies of released individuals and residents of the targeted areas.
Since 2019 until July 2022, the Synergy Association has documented about 488 arrests, including 65 women and 37 children, and 299 at the hands of Turkish forces and Turkey-backed factions of the opposition SNA cases of torture, in which five individuals have died under torture in detention centers run by these factions.
In 2018, Turkish forces and the SNA factions occupied the city of Afrin during Olive Branch operation, and they occupied Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad in 2019 after launching Peace Spring in 2019.
The Turkish operations in the aforementioned areas caused displacement to hundreds of thousands of original inhabitants.
The areas occupied by Turkey and its affiliated factions witness unrest including arbitrary detentions, fighting, explosions, kidnappings, thefts and murders.