Occupied Afrin: Blackmailing and kidnapping incidents on the rise

As Afrin has almost completed its fifth year of occupation by the Turkish army since the region’s violent incursion in 2018, gross human rights violations and widespread violence are continuously increasing.

In fact, the Syrian National Army“, supported and backed by the Turkish government, continues to perpetrate abductions against civilians in the controlled areas of North and Northwestern Syria, particularly, the region of Afrin.

Since the Turkish invasion in March 2018, there have been increasing reports of kidnappings, arrests, murders, and theft of agricultural goods by the militias. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights recently reported that gunmen from the “National Army” arrested a citizen of Qara Kul in Bulbul district. He had been accused of collaborating with the former Autonomous Administration, clearly intending to extort ransom money.

Also, in the city of Afrin, a woman was arrested by the same militia after returning from the northern Aleppo area. Both were released only after a forced ransom of $500 was paid.

The human rights organization Afrin-Syria, specialized in documenting human rights violations in the region, confirmed in its latest report the killing of 13 people, including 3 women, and the kidnapping of 208 others, including 14 women, by the “National Army” militias.

In addition, more than 16,000 trees were hatched, over 1,000 were uprooted and more than 70 hectares of agricultural land were burned. Funded from Turkey, 8 settlements were also built in Dahm.