ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) allegedly killed an elderly Kurdish man in southeastern Aleppo province on Monday, according to a source, amid the group’s ongoing advance in the area.
Abdo Abdulmanan Abdullah was shot dead in al-Waha town following a confrontation with HTS militants, said Shiyar Khalil, who hails from Afrin but now residing in France, adding that the incident took place after the Kurdish man did not allow the jihadists to check his house.
"In the same area, when it fell [to the hands of the HTS], an argument took place between them. Subsequently, they shot him dead," Khalil told Rudaw Hussein Omer.
Abdullah was a “political prisoner” for eight years due to his opposition to the Syrian government, according to a human rights organization based in Afrin.
The organization pointed to the Syrian National Army (SNA) for the killing.
Earlier this week, the Turkish-backed SNA launched a fresh incursion against Kurdish forces in northern Aleppo province.
The HTS and other Syrian rebel groups launched a major offensive against the Syrian army over the past week. They took control of the northern city of Aleppo, the largest in the country, and advanced their offensive into Hama province.
On Monday, Ali Iso, director of Ezdina, a Germany-based Yazidi rights organization, told Rudaw that Syrian opposition militants opened fire on Ahmed Haso, an elderly Yazidi man, killing him and injuring his wife in the town of Tel Rifaat in the Afrin region.
At least 514 fighters and civilians have lost their lives since the clashes erupted, according to SOHR.
The United Nations said that at least 50,000 people have been displaced since the fighting erupted in late November.
