Press release
Syrian Opposition Coalition
Department of Media and Communications
March 31, 2022
The terrorist PYD militia continues to commit various violations against Syrian civilians in north and northeastern Syria in the absence of accountability and the continued ignoring of these violations by many state actors.
Human rights organizations have documented the continuation of forced recruitment in the areas controlled by this militia, including the recruitment of child soldiers.
Rights groups also documented the arrest of nearly 100 people in Al-Raqqa province in March to send them to forced recruitment camps, in addition to similar arrests in Al-Hasakah province.
The PYD militia also continues to harass the internally displaced persons in rural Al-Hasakah, where they arrested three people, including a woman in March. The IDPs are suffering dire humanitarian conditions in these regions. The PYD militia also poses a threat to the unity of Syria as they are seeking to enforce demographic change in the areas under their control.
The terrorist PYD militia continues to follow in the footsteps of the Assad regime with regard to arrest, repression and torture. They responded to the recent demonstrations in Deir Ezzor province protesting against the dire living conditions with arrest, intimidation, the imposition of curfews, not to mention their frequent shelling of the freed territories in northern Syria.
The Syrian people in east of the Euphrates with all their components, especially the Kurds, need to cooperate with each other in order to rise up against the criminal Assad regime and the terrorist PYD militia, which is affiliated with the PKK organization, and to force them from Syria to where they came from.
The Syrian Opposition Coalition calls on the international community to lift the cover off this militia that falsely claim to represent the Kurds. It also calls for ending support for this militia and pressing it to release the detainees, stop torture, and stop the kidnapping and recruitment of child soldiers. It also calls for holding this militia accountable for its gross violations against Syrian civilians.
