Turkish-backed mercenaries kidnap 5 civilians in occupied Afrin

The Turkish forces and allied mercenaries continue committing crimes in the territories they have invaded in North-East Syria in violation of international law.

According to reports from the ground, the so-called “Military Police”, a paramilitary criminal network established by the Turkish state in the areas it occupied in North-East Syria, have stormed several houses belonging to local people in the districts of Jindires and Shiye.

The mercenaries kidnapped Mihemed Îsmaîl El-Ehmed (32), Mihemed Elî Hemîd (26) and Mûsa Mehmûd Hesen (24) from Jindires and Xelîl Sibhî Ehmed (32) and Welîd Ciwan Mihemed (28) from Shiye.

The aftermath of the kidnapped civilians is not known.

Turkey has established a regime of terror and corruption in all the regions it has occupied, particularly in Afrin, which has been invaded since March 2018. Crimes such as kidnapping, execution, torture, looting, forced migration have become rampant in the city, which has become a hotbed for war crimes.

According to what the Human Rights Organization Afrin - Syria documented, more than 8,063 civilians were kidnapped during four years of occupation, the fate of more than a third of them is still unknown, and hundreds of them were released in exchange for a huge ransom.

More than 655 civilians lost their lives, including 498 people who were killed as a result of the Turkish bombing, 90 lost their lives under torture, and more than 696 were wounded as a result of the Turkish bombing, including 303 children and 213 women.

More than 333.900 olive trees and various forest trees have been cut down, and more than a third of the area designated for cultivation, estimated at more than 11 thousand hectares, has been burned since the occupation of Afrin.