ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Three Kurdish teenagers were killed or injured by Arab settlers in Afrin, northern Syria in a month. A rights group said on Tuesday that diaspora Kurds have held protests against these crimes. Shiyar Ibrahim, 17, is a student from Afrin. On February 15, he was shot by a number of other students who are originally from outside the town. Ibrahim was seriously injured in the incident. Ahmed Khalid Mate, 16, was killed by a former worker of his father in Jindaris after being fired due to a financial crisis. The suspected perpetrator is Yamin Ahmed, a member of the town's Arab community, who is originally from Idlib but moved to Afrin after the Kurdish city was invaded by Turkey and its Syrian proxies in 2018. The suspect has been arrested by local police and his family have fled the town, Khalid Mate told Rudaw on Thursday. Two days later, the 17-year-old Rodi Mohammed was stabbed eight times by some Arab settlers. He was seriously injured in the attack. Leman Khalil, spokesperson for the Human Rights Organization -Afrin, told Rudaw on Tuesday that targeting of the Kurdish young men is part of Turkey’s and its Syrian proxies’ policy to frighten the people of Afrin. She added that Kurds have held several protests in the world against these actions.
