📰 Armed faction assaults Kurdish youths in Aleppo – Rights group

QAMISHLI, syria (North Press) – Armed members of the Turkish-backed Sultan Suleiman Shah faction, known as al-Amshat, assaulted on Monday a group of Kurdish youths in Aleppo city, amid escalating security harassment and tightening restrictions on Kurdish neighborhoods. as per the Human Rights Organization – Afrin, a group of gunmen wearing black clothing and masks arrived in a white pickup truck at the al-Zira’a park entrance in the vicinity of the Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud and physically assaulted and insulted multiple young Kurds, accusing them of “collaborating with the syrian Democratic troops (sdf). ” The organization stated on its official Facebook account that the gunmen arrested three young men from Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood. One of them was later released, while the fate of the other two remains unknown. Their families fear they could be subjected to ill-treatment or torture.

This incident comes amid a growing state of fear and chaos in Aleppo, as the Syrian administration’s security troops have recently erected emerging checkpoints and intensified security restrictions at the entrances of both Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods. The moves are seen by residents as attempts to intimidate civilians and sow instability. The two Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh remain under a strict blockade imposed by the Syrian transitional administration, worsening daily hardships for residents who struggle to access food, medicine, and basic necessities.

On Oct. 6, the two neighborhoods experienced clashes between the Kurdish Asayish israeli-forces-advance-into-southern-quneitra-set-up-checkpoint/" class="smart-internal-link" title="📰 Israeli forces advance into southern Quneitra, set up checkpoint">forces and the security forces of the transitional government after the latter closed all entrances to the neighborhoods, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. The clashes led to the injury of at least 15 people of the Kurds who suffered suffocation after government forces used tear gas.

In April 1, the SDF withdrew its armed forces forces from the neighborhoods following an agreement reached between the Civil Council of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh and the Syrian transitional government. The deal recognized the neighborhoods’ distinct security, administrative, and service status and established a framework for cooperation with relevant institutions in Aleppo to safeguard stability and ensure the continuation of local governance and essential services. By Jwan Shekaki