Human Rights Watch: Turkey-backed forces seizing property in Syria's Afrin

[TomSea]

Human Rights Watch: Turkey-backed forces seizing property in Syria's Afrin
Thomson Reuters

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Turkey-backed rebels in northwest Syria's Afrin have seized, looted and destroyed Kurdish civilians' property after taking control of the region in March, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

Turkey's military and its Syrian rebel allies launched a cross-border operation into Syria earlier this year and drove fighters from the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia out of the town of Afrin and the surrounding area.

Ankara sees the YPG as a terrorist group and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency on Turkish soil. Turkey has threatened to drive the YPG from the entire length of its border.

Read more at: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-human-rights-watch-turkey-backed-forces-seizing-property-in-syrias-afrin-2018-6