US-backed SDF militants abduct 100s of civilians in northeastern Syria

Kurdish-led militants from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have reportedly kidnapped hundreds of people in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah, as the terrorists continue to perpetrate criminal and abusive practices against ordinary citizens in areas under their control.

Local sources, requesting not to be named, told Syria’s official news agency SANA on Sunday that the US-sponsored militants have stormed houses in the city of Ras al-Ayn as well as the towns of al-Shaddadi, Tell Tamer and Tell Hamis, and abducted 300 civilians in order to forcibly recruit them within their ranks.

Separately, SDF militants kidnapped a woman in the central Syrian village of al-Hamrat, and took her away to an unknown location. Her fate and whereabouts remain unknown.

The extremists also looted government facilities and public property in al-Wasitah village of Syria’s northern province of Raqqah and surrounding villages.

On September 24, residents of al-Shaddadi town took to the streets, demanding the expulsion of the US-sponsored militants from their hometown. Shops and businesses were shuttered as store owners joined the demonstration.

The protesters blocked the main road in the town, and burned scrap tires to reduce visibility to prevent SDF militants from entering al-Shaddadi and stepping up crackdown on local residents.

Civil and media sources, requesting anonymity, told SANA on September 22 that SDF militants had received 175 truckloads of weapons and munitions dispatched by the United States, irrespective of condemnation by Damascus of the "criminal and repressive" actions of the forces.

The sources added that the convoy came from northern Iraq through the Semalka border crossing, which is a pontoon bridge across the Tigris, to the militants’ positions in Syria’s northern and eastern provinces of Hasakah, Raqqah and Dayr al-Zawr.

On September 15, Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, in identical letters sent to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the rotating President of the UN Security Council Vasily Nebenzya, announced that SDF militants continue their terrorist and criminal exercises against Syrians in Hasakah, Dayr al-Zawr, Raqqah and Aleppo.

The letters stated that the militants are backed by the United States and the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, who provide them with military, logistic, financial and political support.

“That goes in line with schemes being carried out by some states subservient to the United States and being concocted by the authorities of the Zionist regime (of Israel) in utter disregard to Security Council resolutions, which underline the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and unity of its people,” the letters read.

The Syrian ministry went on to say that not only do SDF militants take part in crimes being perpetrated by the US-led coalition against Syrian people, but they also kidnap, torture, murder and displace civilians.

The US has long been providing the SDF with arms and militant training, calling them a key partner in the purported fight against the terrorist group of Daesh. Many observers, however, see the support in the context of Washington's plans to carve out a foothold in the Arab country.

Such support has also angered Washington's NATO ally, Turkey, which views militants from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) – the backbone of the SDF – as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has been waging a destructive war inside Turkey for decades.

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