ARK documents: SDF kidnaps five children within a month and takes them to forced conscription

ARK News… ARK documented the kidnapping of five minor children, in October 2023, by armed groups affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces, in the cities of Qamishlo and Aleppo, the youngest of whom was a twelve-year-old child.

Among the victims of forced conscription were four Kurdish minors, an Arab minor, and the kidnapped persons were no more than fifteen years old.

The first victim, the child Salin Iyad Mahmoud, 14 years old, was kidnapped on the 7th of the month by the “Revolutionary Youth” near the municipal stadium in the city of Qamishlo. She is the only daughter of her family.

Solin Ibrahim, 15 years old, was kidnapped in the middle of the month by the “Revolutionary Youth” in the city of Qamishlo.

On the 17th of the month, two minors, Mirav Adnan Khasho, 15 years old, and Semil Zidan Ismail, 14 years old, were kidnapped in the city of Qamishlo by the Women’s Protection Units (YPG).

On the 20th of the month, the child Ezaddin Bakri Na'asan, 12 years old, was kidnapped by the “Revolutionary Youth” in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in the city of Aleppo while he was returning home from work.

Although the Syrian Democratic Forces signed an action plan with the United Nations to end and prevent the recruitment of children under the age of 18 and their use in military operations, as the plan was signed by the Commander-in-Chief of the SDF, Mazloum Kobani, with the United Nations representative for children and armed conflict, Virginia Gamba, the involvement of minors in battles their recruitment is still continuing, amid neglect of the appeals of the children’s families and the calls of Kurdish activists, politicians and parties for the necessity of putting an end to this dangerous phenomenon that has, in one way or another, caused the region to be emptied of the Kurds.

159