From ... in Warfare Research Political — May 14, 2025

Syria: Türkiye-backed Armed Groups Detain, Extort Civilians

(Beirut, May 14, 2025) – Syrian National Army (SNA) factions that fought the Assad government with backing from Türkiye continue to detain, mistreat, and extort civilians in northern Syria, Human Rights Watch said today. These fighters are

These fighters are being integrated into Syria’s Armed Forces, with their commanders appointed to key government and military positions, despite their past involvement in serious abuses. Syria’s transitional government should work to end and investigate ongoing abuses and exclude those with records of abuse from the Syrian security forces. “The fall of Assad’s abusive government has meant decades of atrocities by that government have come to an end,” said Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “But Syrian National Army factions are continuing to detain, extort, and torture residents with impunity.” Among the commanders involved in past abuses and who now hold influential posts in the new Syrian military are Mohammad al-Jassem (Abu Amsha) leading the 62nd Division; Saif Boulad (Saif Abu Bakr) leading the 76th Division; Fehim Isa as the defense minister’s assistant for northern affairs; and most recently, Ahmed al-Hais (Abu Hatem Shaqra) leading the 86th Division in the eastern region. A February 2024 Human Rights Watch report documented SNA atrocities from 2018 to 2023.

The primary targets were Kurds and those linked to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Türkiye considers part of the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which announced its dissolution on May 12. Human Rights Watch interviewed two Kurdish civilians who were detained by pro-Turkish factions, and three whose relatives or neighbors were detained around the fall of the Assad government in December 2024. Researchers also spoke with a Syrian human rights researcher monitoring abuses in the region, a journalist, and an aid worker in northern Aleppo. On December 1, 2024, emboldened by the military operations of Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist coalition now leading the transitional government, the SNA initiated its own offensive. It focused on capturing northern Aleppo territory, including Shahba, an area that had largely served as a refuge for Kurds displaced during Türkiye’s takeover of Afrin in 2018. On December 3, SNA forces raided the home of a Shahba resident, her husband, and three children.

They arrested her husband, a 42-year-old construction worker, without explanation. After 40 days, she said, a relative found him in a hospital in Afrin: They had forcibly removed his fingernails, toenails and teeth, and he had burn marks on his feet ... He told me Turkish intelligence forces and the SNA’s Military Police tortured him in Maarata Prison and forced him to confess that he was building tunnels for the SDF.

Then they took him to the hospital and left him there. A few days after he came home, he suffered a stroke and can no longer speak at all. Residents of a village in Afrin described ongoing extortion by Mohammad al Jassem’s Sultan Suleiman Shah division, which they said imposes taxes on olive farmers and fines on returning families of US$2,000 to $5,000. Between December 2024 and January 2025, the fighters detained nine residents, accusing them of not paying taxes and demanding up to $3,800 each for their release. On January 10, four masked armed men stormed one woman’s home, took her to their headquarters, and demanded $850 under threat of violence, she said. She promised to pay and was released but fled the area.

The next day, neighbors told her the fighters had returned to her house three times, threatened guests at a family funeral, beat her niece, and detained her niece’s husband, releasing him only after the family paid $450. She remains afraid to return, describing it as a “never-ending nightmare.” A 61-year-old man, returned to his village in Afrin in November 2024, eight years after he had left. On December 2, armed members of Said Abu Bakr's Hamzat Division abducted him, beat him with sticks and whips, and confiscated his phone and money.

They accused him of ties to the SDF, and later transferred him to Afrin city, beating him en route. He was held for two days until his cousin paid $1,500 for his release. A week later, he said, he sought a security clearance document from the SNA military police to minimize the risk of being detained again, but was instead detained and interrogated by Turkish intelligence and military police officers for six days, and had to pay $1,500 for his release. A 37-year-old man, from Nairibiyah in eastern Aleppo, said the SNA’s Sultan Suleiman Shah faction took control of the village in December 2024. On January 14, 2025, armed members arrived in four pickup trucks, fired into the air, beat villagers, including older men, and stole their belongings.

They arrested seven young men under the pretext of searching for weapons, he said. Two remained in detention as of early May. A recent report by Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ), a human rights group, documented 41 arrests by SNA factions and the affiliated Military Police in January and February. Ten occurred after the Syrian caretaker government’s newly formed General Security forces entered northern Aleppo cities on February 6 following an apparent deal to assume control from the SNA. Despite the removal of most SNA checkpoints, sources in Afrin and elsewhere said that factions still operate from their former bases. Qussai Jukhadar, a researcher for STJ, said arrests decreased in March but hundreds remain detained in SNA-run, Turkish-supervised prisons. On February 15, Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Afrin, pledging to extend government authority over northern Syria and restore residents’ rights. On March 10, a key agreement was signed between al-Sharaa and the SDF commander, Mazloum Abdi, focusing on integration into the Syrian army, including for the return of internally displaced people from areas like Afrin. Syrian authorities bear responsibility for abuses by forces integrated into the army as well as for preventing abuses and ensuring accountability. Türkiye, which still oversees former SNA factions and continues to provide weapons, salaries, training, and logistical support to these factions, also bears responsibility for their abuses and potential war crimes.

The Syrian transitional government should urgently unify its military under an accountable command with civilian oversight and ensure adherence to international human rights standards. It should take steps to prevent further abuses against Kurdish and other residents in northern Syria, ensure the release of all arbitrarily detained people, and investigate past abuses with fair legal proceedings. Türkiye should discontinue support to abusive commanders and factions and provide reparations to victims. The transitional government should create conditions for the safe, voluntary, and dignified return of displaced people, and grant independent monitors unrestricted access to all detention facilities, including those operated by former SNA factions and Turkish forces. Other countries should provide technical and financial assistance to ensure that the new security forces protect civilians and observe the rule of law, including supporting an independent judiciary to ensure lawful detention and treatment of detainees. “As Syria’s transitional government is integrating into its ranks SNA factions and other armed groups, it must exclude those in the SNA that are responsible for abuses and hold them accountable,” Coogle said. “If it doesn’t do so, the Syrian people will not be able to trust their armed forces and will be vulnerable to yet more abuse.” .

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Syria: Türkiye-backed Armed Groups Detain, Extort Civilians

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