Daily Mail: Fear reigns over Afrin after seized by Turkey-backed gangs

NEWS DESK

The British Daily Mail reported on the situation in Afrin after it was occupied by Turkey and its mercenaries and referred to violations against its population.

"Residents say their fear of harassment has made them closed their doors from within, after Ankara and its mercenaries seized the city of Afrin in March after a two-month air and ground offensive attack."

"They stole my son's house, they left nothing, even the clothes," Ahmad, a 55-year-old says. "The mercenaries seized his motorbike and 20 cylinder gas," the 55-year-old said. They also looted all the contents of his family's store.

Since Turkey and its mercenaries occupied the city of Afrin, the United Nations and human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have documented widespread violations.

Half of the city's 320,000 residents have fled according to a recent report by the UN Inquiry Committee, and the report says most are unable to return to Afrin.

The report notes that most of the homes of the people of Afrin have been seized by Turkish mercenaries as well as other families who had been displaced from some Syrian cities.

The report notes that the people who managed to return to their homes when they returned saw their homes destroyed and stolen and looted, including Ahmed's family, who recently returned to Afrin, which was destroyed by scenes of destruction.

Kidnapping for ransom

Other residents were forced to repurchase their stolen cars for up to $ 5,000 or pay bribes at checkpoints to access their property, according to the UN Committee.

Salim, 50 years old, has many olive groves but can no longer access them without the prior permission of the groups there. If you do not allowed in there, you cannot enter your land. Even if there is a permit, the road is a danger to civilians, because there are mercenaries' gangs on the roads leading to the territory where civilians are kidnapped for ransom, and ransom ranges between 15 - 50 thousand dollars, according to France-Press agency.

City residents do not dare to leave their homes

The United Nations and the Syrian Human Rights Observatory have reported kidnappings for ransom. The British-based Syrian Observatory said it had documented at least 40 cases of kidnappings of civilians in recent weeks. The kidnapped were tortured and beaten, and their parents were asked to pay ransom for their release.

The observatory added that kidnappings have become a way to make money.

"They arrested me, took me to a place outside Afrin, beat me and hung me in Balango." The Balango is a notorious torture method throughout Syria, where the victim is lifted into the air for long hours with his hands tied behind his back.

Samia, an Arab student from Afrin, says she was frightened because her father was brutally killed by gunmen trying to steal his car.

Samia said "The first time they tried, my father kicked them out of the house, but they came back the second time to kill him, the murderer was arrested for only a month.

The United Nations and Amnesty International also reported that families taken out of the eastern Gouta in Damascus were given homes in Afrin.

Even the Kawa statue-a legendary symbol of the resistance of the Kurds- was destroyed by the mercenaries, changing the name of the roundabout where it stood to the olive branch roundabout.

Abu Baha is 60 years old feels nostalgic to the quiet days of Afrin before being occupied by mercenaries supported by Turkey, he said "injustice, injustice and injustice and no one will hold them accountable."

H/S

ANHA