YPG/PKK abducting civilians in NE Syria: Watchdog

By Esref Musa and Burak Karacaoglu

IDLIB, Syria (AA) - A rights watchdog reported Monday that YPG/PKK terrorists had abducted more than 100 people in northeastern Syria for “security reasons”.

According to the U.K.-based Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), the YPG/PKK has abducted 107 people -- including women and children -- from opposition-held areas and from regions the group has recently occupied on the pretext of fighting the Daesh terrorist organization.

The SNHR went on to report that the YPG/PKK was abducting local residents from the outskirts of Syria’s city of Raqqa -- once considered a Daesh stronghold -- and from nearby Manbij.

The YPG/PKK terrorist organization has also forcibly recruited child soldiers, the rights group added, with the most recent case recorded last December, when the group forcibly recruited four local children all under the age of 17.

The international community, meanwhile, has continued to warn of rights abuses being committed by the YPG/PKK, which currently occupies an estimated 28 percent of Syria’s overall territory.