7 civilians were abducted by the gangs of the occupying Turkish army on 16 July in the village of Zerê in Afrin’s Bilbilê district. According to reports, one of the abducted civilians was identified as Hesen Elî Elî (28) from Eyn Hecer village while the other 6 people come from Aleppo city.

The abducted civilians were taken to the dungeon under the control of the ‘Sultan Suleyman Shah’ and ‘Al-Amshad’ gang groups in the village of Ashka in Jindirês district and were subjected to torture.

According to Syria-Afrin Human Rights Organisation, a 15-year-old girl named Esmehan Mihemed was kidnapped by the Turkish intelligence and ‘Military Police’ gangs in Mehmûdiye neighbourhood of Afrin on 12 July.

On the other hand, Mihemed Ehmed Mihemed Ebdo, 42, from Avaz village in Mabeta city, was abducted by Turkish-backed gangs on 7 July and his fate is unknown.

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.