As violations continue in Afrin area, “Olive Branch” Factions receive more assassinations by cells of the Kurdish Forces, the last of which kills 4 fighters

Aleppo Province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: a violent explosion was heard in Afrin city in the northwestern countryside of Aleppo, which is under the control of “Olive Branch” Forces, caused by an explosive device in the vicinity of Msikah village in the countryside of Afrin city, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: a vehicle belongs to Nour al-Din al-Zenki movement was travelling with several members on board and an IED exploded in it near the aforementioned town, where 4 members were killed and others were injured, while 2 other members were killed in targeting at Afrin area by cells of the Kurdish Forces who has lost control of the area, after a large military operation led by the Turkish Forces under the name of Operation “Olive Branch”.

The continuous assassinations in Afrin area have increased the number of casualties of these operations, which have exceeded 132 operations since the Kurdish forces lost Afrin area at the end of the second third of March 2018, where it rose to 670, the number of members of the Turkish forces and the rebel and Islamic factions including 83 Turkish soldiers, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of at least 1580 fighters of YPG and Self-Defense Forces, who have been killed since the start of Operation “Olive Branch”, also at least 91 of the popular members of the regime forces have been killed in the Turkish bombardment since they entered on the 20th of February 2018, while the Turkish forces have carried out about 130 assassinations and targeting against the forces controlling Afrin, while leading sources of the YPG denied that their forces or cells had relation or responsibility for many of the assassinations and acts of torture; some of which appeared on videos and attributed to the Kurdish Forces, and the sources accused other cells belong to other parties of carrying out these assassinations and attributing them to the Kurdish Forces for their own agenda, the main aim of which is to escalating their violations against the civilians, where the resentment has been increasing among the civilians day after day, with the unfair and unjust procedures, and the silence of the Turkish Forces -who are leading the “Olive Branch” operation- and not responding to their complaints, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also documented the death of about 376 civilians including 55 children and 36 women, the number of civilian citizens of the Kurds, Arabs, and Armenians, tens of them were killed in a mine explosion and under torture by “Olive Branch” factions, also the majority of them were killed by the Turkish aerial and artillery shelling and bombardment, and in several executions against citizens in Afrin area since the 20th of January 2018.

Also  the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored raids carried out by “Olive Branch” Operation Forces in neighborhoods of Afrin city, searching for new victims to arrest them and traffic  by them, which provoked discontent of the people and raised it, because of the violations against victims of the kidnapping, beatings, torture, and demand ransom to be released, to the extent of killing if families of the detained people did not pay, also the Syrian Observatory monitored the arrests of citizens in villages in the countryside of Afrin and they were taken to an unknown destination, where they were imprisoned in prisons that is houses of residents of Afrin who have been displaced from their areas by the military operation carried out by the Turkish Force and the Syrian opposition rebel and Islamic factions, and with these arrest, abduction, trafficking in detainees, and imposing royalties, and the Syrian Observatory received a copy of a circular stamped by the local council in Afrin, which stated:

“In order to preserve the property of citizens, we call all our citizens brothers in Afrin city (only the city without the countryside) to check with the local council –property and documentation office with all the official papers of their property, in order to certify them officially, and for those who lost their papers for some reason, they will be granted the right of temporary ownership via real estate identification and approval and with very precise procedures, to avoid any problem relating to the property of citizens, and the local council does not count any new sale and count it as void completely that does not entail any subsequent legal action, and therefore only the ownership approval and confirmation will be for the previous owners”.

This decision comes after repeated clashes between factions of “Olive Branch” Operation, after disagreements over the seizure of houses or buildings in Afrin city and its countryside, where these clashes left casualties and injuries in the ranks of both parties, where the Syrian Observatory previously received a copy of a video shows fighters descended from Deir Ezzor province, of the factions of the Operation “Olive Branch”, saying “this is the land of our ancestors and they lost their way as a result of a sand storm so that they went to Deir Ezzor, and this land is ours, and it is the land of al-Bakkara Clan, we will get it back, and we raised our flags, and even the grass in Afrin is more yellow than the color of the flag the sons of adulterers -the Kurdish Units, Allah protects the president Erdogan, as he brought us here, after it was difficult for us to defeat them -the Kurdish forces”.

And the Syrian Observatory published on the 8th of this month that the Turkish authorities and the local councils in Afrin countryside, are cutting off olive trees and opening the road between Afrin area and Iskenderun, in order to start running the trucks for trading and transporting the olive and other material from Syria, through an active trading process, and the reliable sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory in the past 24 hours, that the Turkish authorities have constructed a land crossing linking between Afrin area and Iskenderun, through Hamam area, in order to be used for the trade of olive and transport it into the Turkish interior, where it is expected that the incoming days will witness a formal announcement about opening the crossing, and the sources suggested that it will be an alternative one for the crossing points of Bab Al-Hawa and Atma.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored cutting of hundreds of olive trees by the parties that are in charge of constructing the road of local councils and Turkish authorities, in order to complete constructing this road, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored yesterday, that the forces of the “Olive Branch” Operation, local councils and Turkish authorities, are continuing the seizure of citizens’ crops and the olive farms is continuing by the local councils in the area, and by the Turkish forces, where reliable sources confirmed that Jandairis Local Council issued a circular calling on the olive mills’ owners to transfer 10% of the outcome of the olive production to the council, and 5% to the mill, and this circular stressed on that the harvesting and pressing olive is prevented unless they have a letter certified by the Local Council in Jandairis, like in previous decisions related to the prohibition of harvesting olives or pressing it without official permission.