Terror group YPG/PKK kidnaps 12 year-old-girl in northern Syria for recruitment into terrorist ranks

By Esref Musa and Mehmet Burak Karacaoglu

TEL ABYAD, Syria (AA) - The terrorist group YPG/PKK has reportedly abducted a 12-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 in December in Ayn-al Arab, in the province of Aleppo, Redor al-Ahmed, the spokesperson for an opposition group, told Anadolu.

YPG/PKK terrorists do not allow forcibly recruited children to contact their families, Ahmed 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.