“Turkish-backed mercenaries have launched a large-scale kidnapping and enslavement campaign against civilians besieged in the Shahba region, north of Aleppo. Over 120 vehicles carrying hundreds of civilians, who were attempting to evacuate to areas in north and eastern Syria, were abducted and taken to an unknown destination near the Sheikh Najjar area,” the Kurdish-led SDF said in a statement.
“Furthermore, with the aim of enslavement, these groups have detained over fifteen thousand civilians and abducted a large number of them. The besieged civilians are enduring harsh conditions, facing starvation and water shortages,” it added.
Turkey-backed opposition militia groups launched an offensive against the SDF in the northwestern region of Shahba. Both sides reached an unannounced deal to allow the safe movement of people to other Kurdish-held areas, mainly Tabqa in Raqqa province.
The SDF said the groups have violated the agreement.
Sheikhmous Ahmed, head of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) office for the displaced and refugees, told Rudaw English that the opposition militants have taken the 15,000 people to an unknown place.
Most of these people hail from the Kurdish city of Afrin which was controlled by the same militia groups and Ankara in 2018.
Ahmed added that the militants were trying to forcibly return these people to Afrin but they want to live under the Kurdish-held areas in northeast Syria (Rojava).
International organizations have recorded numerous human rights violations in Afrin since 2018.
“Kurdish residents have borne the brunt of the abuses due to their perceived ties to Kurdish-led forces that control vast swathes of northeast Syria,” the Human Rights Watch said in February, referring to areas under the control of Ankara-backed groups, including Afrin.
On Tuesday, Ahmed told Rudaw English that about 100,000 people had left Shahba for Tabqa. He said on Thursday that the number has not increased, adding that the 15,000 people stuck in the area amount to 6,000 families.
Tal Rifaat, the main town in the Shahba area, was a longtime target of Turkey who sought to seize the strategic town from Kurdish forces on the grounds that the forces are affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - which has been at war with Ankara for decades.
