PKK/YPG terror group kidnaps 16-year-old girl in northern Syria

TAL ABYAD, Syria

The PKK/YPG terror group abducted a 16-year-old girl in Syrian's province of Aleppo to recruit her into its armed ranks, local sources said on Thursday.

E.S. was abducted by the terrorists while she was leaving school in the Eshrefiyye neighborhood, which is under PKK/YPG occupation, Redor al-Ahmed, spokesperson for the opposition Independent Kurdish Rabita group, told Anadolu.

The minors kidnapped by the terror group are not allowed to communicate with their parents, he said.

The terror group usually takes the children kidnapped or detained to terror camps for armed training.

The terrorist organization has kidnapped more than 20 children since the beginning of the year to recruit them in the areas it has occupied in Aleppo, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and Al- Hasakah provinces.

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.

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 Zehra Nur Duz