Turkish-backed SNA assaults employees in Syria’s Afrin
AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – Militants of the Civil Police affiliated with the Turkish-backed armed opposition, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA), assaulted on Friday employees in front of one of the Turkish banks in the town of Jindires in the countryside of Afrin Region, northwest Syria.
Eyewitnesses told North Press that the Civil Police attacked a woman inside the center of PTT(Turkish bank) in Jindires, which sparked anger among employees who were waiting in front of the center to receive their salaries.
The police shot in the air and sprayed pepper spray to disperse the crowd, which led to injuries among women, according to the eyewitnesses.
Dozens of PTT branches are located in various areas under the control of Turkish forces and SNA factions in the countryside of Aleppo. SNA factions force humanitarian organizations and their facilities in northwest Syria to receive the salaries of their employees from PTT centers and only in Turkish currency.
On January 20, 2018, the Turkish forces and their affiliated SNA factions, launched a military operation against Afrin and its countryside – including 365 villages – dubbed “Olive Branch” to push away the YPG fighters under the pretext of protecting the Turkish national security. The operation continued until March 18 of the same year which resulted in the occupation of the region by Turkey and the displacement of more than 300,000 Kurds of the original people.
Since then, the SNA factions adopted the policy of looting and seizing the properties of the people who fled to the neighboring villages in an area north of the city of Aleppo that is called Shahba region. The area includes 42 villages and towns in addition to five camps that house IDPs from Afrin.