Erdogan to Give Afrin’s Control to Al-Nusra Militants

The Turkish officials have held several meetings with commanders of the Al-Nusra-affiliated Faylaq al-Rahman on Afrin region in the past 10 days to hand over the police command of the region to Faylaq al-Rahman militants, the London-based pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

It noted that the Turkish officials have accurate intelligence about those who have entered Afrin, specially from Eastern Ghouta.

This is while Ankara has sent over 700 family members of Faylaq al-Rahman together with tens of their commanders who had left Eastern Ghouta to settle in Afrin after. The Ankara’s move came after it forced hundreds of civilians to leave Afrin.

In a relevant development on Sunday, the Turkish army and Ankara-backed militants in Afrin region in Aleppo province detained a large number of civilians and asked for a large amount of money to free them.

The Kurdish-language Hawar news reported on Sunday that the Turkish forces have detained 20 civilians, most of them Izadis, in the village of Qatmeh in Shara region in Afrin.

It added that they also tortured the detainees and loot their properties.

Hawar news reported that the Turkish army and militants have asked $2,500 to $5,000 to free any of their hostages.

In a relevant development, the London-based pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Monday that the Ankara-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) had started blackmailing civilians and looting their assets in Afrin region in Northwestern Aleppo amid reports on the Turkish Army’s move in replacing locals in Afrin with Eastern Ghouta terrorists.

The SOHR said that the FSA militants have started stealing and looting properties and assets of local people that are still in Afrin region, adding that the FSA also is seizing assets of people that have left the region after the start of Operation Olive Branch.

The SOHR further said that the FSA has also embarked on accusing young people and men of fake crimes to detain and torture them.

It went on to say that the FSA later called for a hefty amount of money as ransom to free the detainees.

The FSA has also embarked on expelling several families in Shera region in Northeastern Afrin, accusing them of affiliation with Kurdish fighters, the SOHR said, adding that the FSA is settling Eastern Ghouta terrorists in Afrin region after expelling the locals.