Turkish-backed groups arrest more civilians in Afrin: SOHR

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Syrian militia groups backed by Turkey continue to arbitrarily arrest civilians in the occupied northwestern Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported on Saturday.

SOHR documented several cases in recent days in which the Turkish-backed factions arrested civilians and held them for ransom.

Citing activists in the region, it documented a case in Kafr Safra village in the Jendires district where a civilian was arrested on Friday "for unknown reasons" by fighters belonging to the al-Samarqand faction.

Last week, members of the Malak Shah faction arrested two women from the village of Kakhrah in the Ma'batli district. The women were charged with "working for the Autonomous Administration during its control of the region." They were later released after their relatives paid $300 each in ransom to the militiamen.

On Thursday, another woman was arrested by "Turkish Intelligence" in the Ifraziyah village, which is also in the Ma'batli district, again "for unknown reasons."

SOHR documented several similar cases to these in the preceding weeks.

In early 2018, Turkey and its Syrian militia proxies invaded Afrin. Hundreds of thousands of local residents, mostly Kurdish but other ethnic and religious minorities also, were displaced by that invasion. Since then, these militiamen have occupied the enclave and subjected many of its civilian inhabitants to abuses.

Other recent cases SOHR documented including the seizure of a house by the "al-Jabha al-Shamiyyah", which belonged "to a civilian who had fled to Aleppo city after harassment by the factions of the National Army."

On Friday, a civilian from Qibar village in Afrin's countryside was arrested by Turkish-backed military police at a checkpoint in Azaz city and detained in a "security center" in Mare, again for "unknown" reasons.

Another civilian was from Afrin's Raju district was also arrested in Azaz while bringing his wife to Shamarin hospital for medical treatment. He was charged with "Dealing with the Autonomous Administration during its control of Afrin canton."

The Autonomous Administration they refer to is the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) which governs areas controlled by Kurdish-led forces. Turkey views that entity and its main military arm as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and has taken repeated cross-border military actions against it in recent years.