Turkish Army, Allied Militants Capture, Torture Hundreds of Civilians in Northern Syria

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Wednesday that the Turkish Army men and Ankara-backed militants have captured more than 2,300 civilians in occupied Afrin to blackmail their families.

The SOHR said that the Ankara forces have, thus far, captured a sum of 2,338 resident of Afrin region since they occupied Afrin, adding that a sum of 835 civilians are still under arrest.

The SOHR went on to say that most of the captured civilians were released after Ankara forces tortured them and forced them to pay 10 million Syrian lira as ransom.

It further said that people in the region have been enraged after a number of captured civilians were killed under torture.

Local sources reported last week that residents of Afrin started leaving their regions towards Aleppo city and the regions that were under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as measures done by the Turkish army and Ankara-backed militants deteriorated security in the region.

The Ankara forces continued abduction of people, blackmail, plundering people’s assets and damaging civilians’ businesses.

FARS