Turkey-Backed Militants Blackmailing Syrians by Asking for Ransom

Ankara-back militant groups have captured almost a thousand civilians in Afrin region in Northwestern Aleppo to force their families to pay a hefty amount of money in return for their freedom, local sources in Northern Syria reported on Tuesday.

News ID: 71490

Date: 31 July 2018 - 17:07

TEHRAN (Defapress)- The sources said that the Ankara-backed militants have arrested almost 1,000 civilians in the town of Afrin and in the villages and districts near the town to earn a large amount of money as their ransom.

The sources went on to say that the Turkish troops and their allied militants have been arresting civilians accusing them of connections to the Kurdish militias, adding that the captured civilians have been tortured.

The sources added that more than half of the captured civilians have been released after their families paid a hefty amount of money to the Ankara-backed militants as bribe.

The Ankara-backed militants have forced Afrin residents to pay tax and set up checkpoints along al-Bastouleh road to receive toll from vehicles.

The Kurdish-language Hawar news reported on Friday that members of Albu Banah tribe and militants of the Turkey-backed Ahrar al-Sham clashed fiercely in al-Ashrafiyeh neighborhood in Afrin, leaving at least three gunmen dead.

It further said that the clashes came after Ankara-backed militants seized a bulldozer of Ablu Banah tribe, adding that clashes are still underway between Ahrar and the tribal fighters.

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