By Esref Musa
TEL ABYAD, Syria (AA) – The PKK/YPG terrorist group has abducted a 14-year-old girl in northern Syria, to recruit her into their armed ranks, violating laws against both kidnapping and using children as fighters.
The girl was kidnapped by terrorists on Jan. 28 from the Ayn al-Arab district of Aleppo province, Redor al-Ahmed, spokesperson for the opposition Kurdish group, Independent Kurdish Rabita, told Anadolu.
The children kidnapped by the terror group are not allowed to communicate with their parents, he said.
The terror group usually takes the children it kidnapped or detained to terror camps for armed training. The use of children as armed combatants is expressly forbidden under international humanitarian law and is defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court.
The YPG/PKK recruited more than 1,200 children in 2022, according to a UN report.
In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is its Syrian offshoot.
*Writing by Merve Berker