The Afrin-Syrian Human Rights Organisation announced that the mercenaries of the occupying Turkish state kidnapped two people in Bilbilê district on September 4. The abducted civilians were identified as Idrîs Hisên Henan (51) and Henan Hisên Henan (39).

On the other hand, the so-called ‘Military Police’ abducted Henîf Omer (37), a resident of Ashrafiyê neighbourhood of Afrin, from Ereb Wêran village of Shera district on 31 August and no information is available about his aftermath yet.

In the meantime, the Sultan Murad mercenaries kidnapped a person named Nûrî Mûsa Mûsa in the centre of Afrin on 1 September.

On 4 September, the Civil Police mercenaries of the occupying Turkish state abducted Ehmed Mistefa, 57, and his disabled son Ciwan from the village of Yelanqoz in Jindires district, near Newroz Junction in Afrin city centre.

More than 10,400 people have been abducted since the occupation

The Turkish state established a full terror regime in Afrin, which it occupied in 2018.
According to the Violations Documentation Centre, at least 30 people were abducted in May and at least 40 people in June.

According to the Syrian Organisation for Human Rights, at least 10,332 people were abducted and 463 people were killed between 2018 and April 2024.

One of the most peaceful and secure parts of Syria once

Afrin Canton was the westernmost canton of Rojava and North and East Syria, home to 200,000 ethnic Kurds. Though the population was overwhelmingly Kurdish, it was home to diverse religious groups including Yazidis, Alevis and Christians alongside Sunni Muslims.

On 20 January 2018, Turkey launched air strikes on 100 locations in Afrin, as the onset of an invasion they dubbed ‘Operation Olive Branch.’

The Turkish Air Force indiscriminately shelled civilians as well as YPG/YPJ positions, while a ground assault was carried out by factions and militias organised under the umbrella of the Turkish-backed National Army.

By 15 March, Turkish-backed militias had encircled Afrin city and placed it under artillery bombardment. A Turkish airstrike struck the city’s only functioning hospital, killing 16 civilians.

Civilians fled and the SDF retreated, and by 18 March Turkey was in de facto occupation of Afrin. Between 400 and 500 civilians died in the invasion, overwhelmingly as a result of Turkish bombing. Other civilians were summarily executed in the field.

Prior to the Turkish invasion, Afrin had been one of the most peaceful and secure parts of Syria, virtually never seeing combat during the civil war but occasional skirmishes between YPG/YPJ and jihadist forces on its borders. As a result, Afrin offered peaceful sanctuary to over 300,000 internally displaced people from elsewhere in Syria.