According to the Violations Documentation Centre, the occupying Turkish state forces and affiliated mercenaries kidnapped 28 people in the Afrin region in the month of July.

According to reports, the occupiers demanded ransom in exchange for the release of the abducted people, whose names of were listed as follows:

Reşîd Semîr (24), Xelîl Hac Ehmed (47), Mihemed Mecîd (34), Şemsedîn Silêman Mihemed (66), Menan Miho Nesan (40), Cuma El Mûsa (60), Zeyneb Şêxo Mistefa (85) ve oğlu Mihemed Mistefa ile Ehmed Mistefa (14), Mihemed Elî Xelfan (43), Menan Seydo (57), Fehmî Ebdo Seydo (35), Elî Ebdurehman Mistefa (49), Selah Reşîd Korbelo (20), Mihemed Xelîl Hec Qenber (24), Mihemed Hesen Seydo (40), Ciwan Hemîd Horo (42), Mihemed Seîd Omer (43), Ehmed Xelîl El Celel, Mihemed Îzet Koçer and Hesen Îsa Xelef (55).

The report also stated that Ahrar al-Sharqiya mercenaries raided many houses in Afrin on 2 July and kidnapped 7 citizens.

Afrin occupied since 2018

Afrin Canton was the westernmost canton of Rojava and North and East Syria, home to 200,000 ethnic Kurds. Though the population was overwhelmingly Kurdish, it was home to diverse religious groups including Yazidis, Alawites and Christians alongside Sunni Muslims.

On 20 January 2018, Turkey launched air strikes on 100 locations in Afrin, as the onset of an invasion they dubbed ‘Operation Olive Branch.’

The Turkish Air Force indiscriminately shelled civilians as well as YPG/YPJ positions, while a ground assault was carried out by factions and militias organised under the umbrella of the Turkish-backed National Army.

By 15 March, Turkish-backed militias had encircled Afrin city and placed it under artillery bombardment. A Turkish airstrike struck the city’s only functioning hospital, killing 16 civilians.

Civilians fled and the SDF retreated, and by 18 March Turkey was in de facto occupation of Afrin. Between 400 and 500 civilians died in the invasion, overwhelmingly as a result of Turkish bombing. Other civilians were summarily executed in the field.

Prior to the Turkish invasion, Afrin had been one of the most peaceful and secure parts of Syria, virtually never seeing combat during the civil war but occasional skirmishes between YPG/YPJ and jihadist forces on its borders. As a result, Afrin offered peaceful sanctuary to over 300,000 internally displaced people from elsewhere in Syria.