Following the occupation of the Kurdish region of Afrin by the Turkish army and Ankara-backed militant groups in the spring of 2018, there have been numerous reports of human rights abuses by these groups against the region's residents and environment.

Immediately after entering Afrin, Syrian militants looted the towns and villages of the Afrin region in front of reporters' cameras, forcing many residents to flee, killing civilians, arresting arbitrarily, torturing unjustly, kidnapping and raping women. The violations made many people to quit their homeland.

Ibrahim Ibrahim, a journalist from Afrin, addressed this issue in a report published on Ahval website.

Ibrahim writes that, in the past three years, Syrian militias have given green light to Turkey to commit widespread human rights violations against civilians in Afrin, and the international community's silence on these actions has emboldened Turkey and its allies to change Afrin ethnic context, kidnap people, rape women, cut olive trees burn fields and rob antiquities.

Ibrahim further addresses another dimension of these criminal acts, which has not been addressed as it should.

In one case, in November 2015, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a number of wounded had been taken to a hospital in a bombing in the town of Gri Spi, but none had returned alive.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, one of the men was only "injured and was conscious and walked on his feet" but his body was returned, while all the contents of his abdomen were emptied.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the trafficking of organs by Turkish forces and its backed militias, and called on human rights organizations in Turkey and the international community to follow up.

Ibrahim wrote in his report that attempted robbery of Afrin's residents has been reported several times in the past three years, especially after bombings that kill and injure people.

He reported six cases of organ theft of the people who had mild illness or small injuries and were taken to hospital but their bodies were returned with stolen internal organs.

Ibrahim believes that both Turkish forces and their Syrian allies are involved in a systematic activity of organ trafficking in Syrian Kurdistan, especially in Afrin.

Reporter's code: 50101