Militias of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) have detained dozens of young people aged between 18 and 30 years old in the provinces of Deir Ezzor and Raqqa to serve in the militia’s ranks.
According to Inab Baladi newspaper, many military-aged men have been detained and sent to the PYD training camps over the past few days.
The PYD introduced compulsory conscription in the areas under their control in 2014. The militias also detained scores of young people for their political views.
In response to the mass arrest campaigns, the Kurdish National Council (KNC) on Saturday called upon the international community to exercise pressure on the PYD militias to stop the abduction and forced recruitment of people living in the areas under their control. The detainees included children who are abducted and sent to training camps run by the PYD militias.
The KNC stressed that it strongly condemns and denounces these terrorist acts, calling on the international community, human rights organizations, and countries with leverage on the PYD to exert pressure on the militias to stop these practices.
The Council pointed out that PYD militias are using the fight against the ISIS extremist group as a pretext to carry out these practices with the aim of stifling civil and political life in the predominantly Kurdish areas in Syria. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
