Documents show Dutch government backed armed groups during Afrin attack

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Despite the Dutch Foreign Minister’s earlier claims that support for rebel groups would end immediately if they were involved in attacking Afrin, new documents show that the Dutch government supported Turkish-backed groups during the attack, the Dutch national broadcaster NOS reported.

Documents the Dutch government released after a Freedom of Information request by media outlets Trouw and Nieuwsuur in Holland show that the Dutch government provided vehicles on Feb. 9 to the Jahbat al-Shamiya group.

This happened 18 days after Turkey’s invasion of Afrin. This while the Dutch government in a letter to the Dutch Parliament claimed it ended support to all groups involved in the Afrin attack on Jan. 22.

In September, the Dutch government faced a storm of protest from lawmakers after a news report said it supported a Syrian opposition group which Dutch prosecutors had labeled a “terrorist” organization and rebel groups that carried out human rights violations in Afrin and Sheikh Maqsoud.

In the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in Aleppo in February and April 2016, rebel groups killed over 80 people, including 30 children.

Moreover, the Dutch government previously supported groups that according to experts were involved in “ethnic cleansing” in Afrin.

The Turkish army and Syrian rebel forces, also supported by the Dutch government, overtook the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin on March 18 where they declared full control following a nearly two-month-long offensive against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

The Dutch government supported 22-armed groups in Syria between May 2015 and March 2018, despite knowledge of grave human rights violations by these groups. However, support to these groups was stopped this year.

Dutch FM Halbe Zijlstra, the then acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, told the Dutch Parliament on Feb. 1 that “non-lethal support from the Netherlands” to groups who join Turkey in the battle of Afrin is “in complete contradiction with [Dutch] principles and this [support] will be halted immediately.”

However, the documents showed that Dutch support continued, putting the country’s FM Stef Blok in a difficult position. Blok had earlier refused to give the names of the groups the Dutch government supported and defended the decision to back them.

The new documents contained state-secret information that showed that the Dutch government backed Jahbat al-Shamiya, which was also involved in attacks on Afrin.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry later deleted the documents from the internet.

Amjad Othman, a spokesperson of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), earlier criticized the Dutch support for these groups.

“The same [Dutch-backed] groups invaded Afrin, and carried out ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, kidnapping, and torture of civilians,” he told Kurdistan 24.

“Afrin used to be a safe haven for thousands of refugees from all over Syria. Now, women are forced to wear the veil and face sexual harassment. Afrin’s inhabitants are displaced or fear arrest.”

He called on the Dutch government to support the SDC’s participation in the Geneva talks and stabilization efforts in northern Syria instead of backing Syrian rebel groups.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany