Ongoing violence and arbitrary arrests in Afrin

he Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that pro-Turkish forces and Turkish intelligence arrested six civilians, including a woman and a young girl. A few days ago, Turkish intelligence arrested a woman in her fifties from the village of Shikhoutka in the Ma’abtaly district of the Afrin countryside for “dealing with the former Autonomous Administration”. The SOHR notes that her fate remains unknown.

It is also reported that members of the military police raided a house in the village of Merkan in Afrin countryside and arrested three civilians, including a 25-year-old woman, for unknown reasons. The Observatory stressed that the arrest took place amid a state of panic and fear among their families. The detained civilians were taken to the military police headquarters and their fate remains unknown.

In a similar vein, members of the civil police arrested a civilian in his fifties for unknown reasons after he returned to Aboudan village in Afrin from areas where he had been forcibly displaced, where the members demanded a ransom for his release. In addition, members of the military police arrested a civilian in his thirties in Aukanly village in Afrin countryside after he returned to his hometown.

The SOHR said that it is worth noting that the Afrin region, which is under the control of the Turkish forces and their proxies, is witnessing daily arbitrary arrest campaigns against civilians, while the fate of the civilians who were arrested earlier remains unknown, while those who were released were forced to pay high ransoms.