Armed groups supported by Turkey continue to carry out more arrests and kidnappings of civilians, with increased rates of violence, crime, arrest and kidnapping in the Afrin region and in the general areas controlled by the Turkish armed forces in northern Syria.
Turkish forces and the Syrian armed armed groups supported by them continue to commit more violations and do not heed calls to stop the daily raids, arrest and kidnap citizens out of ransom, prevent their families from knowing where they are detained or its reasons, reject their offer to trial and prevent them from hiring a lawyer.
The Afrin region witnessed the arrest of 39 people from May 1st 2020 until the date of the 31st of the same month. We were able to document their names, while the actual number is more than that, especially since there are names whose families have kept mentioning them, in addition to cases of arrests that we could not reach. To it, as well as the documentation of the killing of civilians under torture, and multiple cases of violations, as well as documenting the exposure of more than 13 detainees to torture, and recorded deaths under torture.
In this region, the daily organized looting, the seizures of people’s homes and properties, olive seasons, logging and other things in addition to the daily arbitrary arrests, the kidnapping of people as hostages in exchange for financial ransoms, the restrictions on the population and the unleashing of the military chaos and dozens of terrorist groups, are deliberate Turkish politics; However, it is carried out in the hands of the “Syrian armed groups” under the name “Syrian National Army” affiliated to the Syrian Provisional Government / Coalition, all of this takes place under the eyes and participation of Turkish forces.
These groups are led by security and military agencies established by Turkey in the region, and they are both the commander of the military police in Afrin (Lt. Col. Muhammad Al Hammadin / Abu Riyadh) – the former police chief Rami Tlass was removed on April 2 and later reinstated – and the leader of the Political Security Branch in Afrin (Muhammad Raji), the commander of the civil police in Afrin (Muhannad Al-Hussein), his deputy (Amer Al-Muhammad) and the three legionary commanders of the National Army (Moataz Raslan), (Mahmoud Al-Baz), (Abu Ahmed Nour) and (Haitham Al-Afisi) in addition to dozens of group leaders The armed militia and the officials of the checkpoints, villages, and neighborhoods, where the city of Afrin was divided into multiple separate areas of control, and each faction in the Imam Al-Nahi area has its own prisons and its own laws.
Sheikh Iron District (Shih):
On May 4 and 5, the “Waqas Brigade” militia launched a search and storming campaign for a number of houses in the village of “Anqlih”, during which they arrested 3 persons: “Sheikho Abdin Ahmed (18 years), Hanan Muhammad (47 years) and his son Alaeddin (16 years).” . Militants from the Suleiman Shah \ Al-Amshaat faction also seized dozens of civilian homes and expelled their residents, and seized shops, including homes belonging to (Hussein Ismail Arab, Zakaria Arab, Hussein Qarash, Haji Khalil Sheikho, Zakaria Amin Haidar, Zakaria Naasan, Muhammad Mustafa, Izzat Kamal Ali Bakr) due to their inability to pay the royalties imposed by the faction.
On the other hand, 8 women out of nearly 90 women arrested were released by the factions of the National Army and the security services, where a fine was paid for their release: Amal Muhammad Nuri, Aisha Nuri Ali, Toulin Abdel Rahman Hassan, Nazlih Abdel Rahman Hassan, Salwa Hassan Mohamed, Rukan Khalil Mastou, Manal Nour El Din Rashid, Sherine Abdo Mohamed.
It is noteworthy that the security services in Afrin were denying that they arrested women, and that those released had been detained for one and a half to 6 months.
On May 12, elements of the Amashat faction seized the house of the elderly “Zalouh Battal Alo” (72 years), the wife of (Hussein Battal Alo), who lost his life in the Turkish bombing of his house in the village of Jagla Wasati on March 16, 2018. The faction also continues Obliging parents to pay taxes under multiple and different names, from smartness to protection to maintenance and woo ..
My area:
On May 5, the “Military Police” agency, accompanied by armed elements from the Al-Hamzat faction, launched a search campaign for homes in the village of Shorba, in the Ma`tali district, during which they kidnapped 3 people: Rashid Muslim Omar, Hassan Ahmed Bayram (68), Idris Sidou Jaafar (45 years old).
Gendris region:
On May 11, armed elements belonging to the Al-Waqas Brigade, which operates within the Syrian National Army, raided the house of the citizen (Abdo Muhammad Hamrush, 51) in the village of Ashkan Gharbi. They arrested him after searching the house, and his families were asked for a financial ransom of $ 3 thousand to release him.
On May 12, members of the Military Police stormed homes in the village of Deir Ballut and kidnapped, during the random raids of the houses, 5 people, including: Jalal Bakir bin Rashad (47 years old), Abd al-Rahman Habash bin Khalil (53 years old), Muhammad Hassan Ibrahim (46) General), Atil Muhammed Eido (39 years old), and the citizen “Abdul Karim Al-Issa bin Abdul Razzaq (53 years)” was shot while trying to escape from them to avoid kidnapping, and there is as yet no information about him if he was shot in the course of his escape. , Or that he was kidnapped after he was shot.
On May 13th, the “Legion of Levant” faction stormed the village a second time, and this time they arrested “Ibrahim Ezz Al-Din Haider (43 years), Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan (61 years), Hassan Ibrahim (54 years) ..”
Date 18 The military police arrested the media journalist Hammoud Al-Dimashqi because of a “post” he wrote on “Facebook”, commenting on a photo circulated by Syrian activists on social media. Of torture released (more details here)
Raju District:
On the date of May 15, members of the “General Mohamed al-Fateh” working within the “Syrian National Army” launched a random arrest campaign in the village of Ma’amala Oshaghi, during which 8 people were arrested: Othman “24 years old,” Damkash Osman Kuliku, “33 years old,” Ahmed Othman Mohamed, “27 years old,” Ahmed Waheed Mustafa, “24 years old,” Hassan Jamil Hassan, “25 years old,” Anwar Othman Hamkoulino, “40 years old.”
May 25 The old man, Nazmi Rashid Akash, 73, from Musako village, lost his life after he was assaulted by sheep herders affiliated with Division 9 in his olive grove.
Afrin grill:
May 11 An elderly man from Afrin (“Refaat Sido” known as “Refaat Khosyono”) lost his life by force after the kidnapping of three of his sons and the theft of his property by the “Mohamed Al-Fateh” elements, where the faction elements seized a real estate document belonging to Raafat, located Close to Afrin Stadium, as well as the seizure of his Verna, a Brix and a Hyundai pickup. The faction elements also stormed his home on April 04, 2020, and stole large sums of money, a gold jewelery and holdings from his house. They also kidnapped two of his sons and grandson, who are: the grandson “Rifaat Sidou”, his father “Saif Al-Din Sido” (55 years), and his brother Sharafan Seydou, 25, is unaccounted for.
May 19 local sources have informed that members of the “Muhammad al-Fateh” faction operating within the “pro-Turkish national army” have told their families that they are ready to release their 8 children in exchange for payments ranging from $ 400 – $ 500 to each person kidnapped in his prisons.
And the Muhammad al-Fateh faction, which includes “Turkmen” fighters in its ranks, launched several campaigns on January 14, 2020, during which the faction elements kidnapped 10 people, including 3 women, in a raid on homes in the village of Korkan of the Mapata district in Afrin countryside.
On May 29, dozens of armed men from Eastern Ghouta within the Ahrar al-Sham faction stormed the headquarters of the Al-Hamzat division in the city of Afrin, against the background of disputes that broke out in a commercial store that turned into an armed clash, and within the headquarters a secret prison was found inside 29 detainees, including 11 women and a one-year-old child just one. Armed confrontations also killed 5 people, including two children and two civilians.
On the 30th of May, the young man Hamza Seifu Saba (22 years old) was arrested from Hayyan town while he was in Ashrafieh neighborhood in Afrin.
On May 31, armed men from the Military Police stormed the house of Citizen Silvana Abdel-Rahman Qara Gul (45 years), from the village of Satya / Mu’tabli district, located in the Ashrafieh neighborhood of Afrin city. After searching her house, she was taken to an unknown location.
