Kurdish women in Afrin protest rebel group detention of young men

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – At least a dozen women in Afrin’s town of Jindires, northwestern Syria, took to the streets on Friday to protest the detainment of Kurdish men by Turkish-backed armed rebel groups and demand the release of the detainees.  

A source told Kurdistan 24 that many women in the Jindires subdistrict of Afrin protested what they claimed to be the “illegal detention” of young Kurdish men who were arrested and are being held by Turkish-administrated courts.

Two days ago, 11 Kurdish residents of Jindires were reportedly taken by Islamist rebel groups, which have been involved in Ankara’s military campaigns into northern Syria.

Three of the men were allegedly released after being extensively tortured. Among the eight which remain in detention, relatives claim at least two have died at the hands of the militia group.

Islamic rebel group Faylaq al-Sham has reportedly been conducting raids and arbitrary arrests of Kurdish families in the Jindires area.

Faylaq al-Sham also took part in the Turkish military “Olive Branch” operation in Afrin in early 2018.

Earlier this week, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) claimed to have killed nine Turkish soldiers and three rebels in Afrin, including a leader of the rebel group Faylaq al-Sham, in an ongoing proto-insurgency in northwestern Syria.

Although the Kurds lost Afrin to Turkey and Syrian rebels on March 18 as a result of the Olive Branch Operation, the YPG said it would continue its resistance, targeting rebel forces backed and settled by Turkey in Afrin.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany