Turkish-backed faction arrests Kurds in Syria’s Afrin
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Militants of the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, also known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), arrested on Saturday several civilian Kurds in the Afrin region, northwestern Syria.
The civilians were heading to the town of Jinidres, 20 km west of Afrin city, to participate in a protest over the killing of five members from one family on the eve of Newroz celebrations, Afrin Post, a local monitor, reported.
The militants arrested about ten people on a checkpoint on the road between Afrin and Jindires.
On March 20, militants of Ahrar al-Sharqiya, a faction affiliated with the Turkish-backed SNA, killed five Kurds and wounded others in Jindires for igniting Newroz flame, a national celebration for the Kurds.
The incident has been followed by local and international angry reactions, calling for holding the perpetrators accountable and removing the injustice in areas under the SNA factions’ control and demilitarize the region.
Since then, thousands of the Kurds of Jindires and nearby villages have been taken to the streets demanding to hold the killers accountable and to evict the SNA factions from the region.