Turkish-backed factions’ violations in Afrin | “Sultan Murad” Division arrests nearly 30 civilians and represses residents in three villages
Civilian found dead a few days after being kidnapped by unknown gunmen
Aleppo province: SOHR activists have reported that the body of a civilian in his fifties from Kondi Mazen village was found, yesterday, dumped in olive fields near Darkarrah village in Ma’batli district in Afrin countryside. According to SOHR sources, the hands of the victim, who was kidnapped by unknown gunmen a week ago, were shackled and there were marks of torture on his body.
Separately, the Turkish-backed “al-Jabha al-Shamiyyah” arrested a family of three, including a woman, from Shakata village in Sheikh Hadid district, taking them to unknown distraction for unknown reasons.
On the other hand, Sultan Murad Division has imposed a stifling siege on Qartaqlaq village where a curfew has been imposed for four days. Furthermore, Sultan Murad arrested 29 civilians from the village, who were humiliated and tortured brutally, following the return of some displaced civilians from Afrin to their houses. With the help their relatives living in the village, the recently-returned civilians managed to get back some of their properties after they had filled complaints to the Turkish forces against the seizure of their properties by Sultan Murad Division, which ignited anger of the faction’s militiamen.
Sultan Murad militiamen therefore have accused the people of the village of “communicating with the former Autonomous Administration and working for an armed group called Olive Wrath”, so that they can retaliate the village’s people.
Moreover, Sultan Murad militiamen have imposed a stifling siege on Mash’alah and Matnali villages of Sharran district, where they prevented the residents from traveling in and out of the two villages. In the past five days, the faction’s militiamen gathered the men of the two villages and verbally abused them, along with imposing strict security measures on the residents, ordering them not to get close to the properties of civilians who have been displaced to regime-controlled areas, SDF-held areas and refugee camps in north Aleppo countryside. The militiamen have also declared that these properties belong to them and threatened to arrest everyone getting close to these properties on charge of “communicating with the Autonomous Administration”.
In this context, a civilian from Sharran district known by his initials as M.N. has told SOHR “the 29 arrested civilians include women, and they have been tortured brutally and suffered inhumane and degrading treatment by the militiamen of Sultan Murad Division. A state of panic is prevailing among the residents who have been prevented from traveling in and out of their villages for nearly ten days.”