State of the Occupation Q3 & Q4 2022: Turkey continues supporting and actively participating in SNA crimes

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Occupation-report-Q34-2022Download

RIC’s report on the state of the Turkish occupation in Northern Syria tracks human rights violations and crimes committed by Turkey and Turkish-backed SNA groups in the occupied regions of Afrin, the ‘M4 Strip’ – the border region between the occupied cities of Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad- and the al-Bab/Azaz/Jarablus Triangle.

During the third and fourth quarter of 2022 (July-December), RIC found among other things:

  • In the second half of 2022, RIC recorded a total of 370 arrests in Afrin: 230 recorded in Q3 and 140 in Q4. In the M4 Strip, they were 79: 77 in Q3 and only 2 in Q4. In Q3 in Afrin, almost half (48%) of the arrests were reported as cases of people “arrested on charges of previous collaboration with the Autonomous Administration”.
  • A total of 123 civilians were killed: 60 from Afrin, 33 from the M4 strip, and 33 from al-Bab/Azaz/Jarablus Triangle
  • In the Afrin region, RIC recorded a total of 715 economic crimes. 263 occurred in the Q3 period and 452 in the Q4. The Q4 high stands out in 2022 data, equalling one and a half times the average number of crimes per quarter (298)
  • 72 cases of infighting in all occupied areas were recorded. There was a large cluster of infighting incidents between October 7th and 17th in the Afrin and al-Bab/Azaz/Jarablus Triangle regions. This included the involvement of Idlib’s Hay’at-Tahrir al-Sham militia.
  • In the middle of Q3 2022 reconciliation talks officially started, although it was revealed that Turkish and Syrian intelligence services already resumed their communication in 2021. As a response protests took place in all occupied areas.
  • Prior to October 2022, al-Jabha al-Shamiya was one of the strongest forces in the Afrin region, but the HTS-led campaign in October altered this equilibrium: the 2nd Legion reformed, composed of the SNA factions that are the most loyal Turkish proxies, and ousted the 3rd Legion from the region. HTS also increased its influence in the region.

Journalists and researchers may contact RIC to gain access to the full database, as well as our interactive map showing faction ownership and geolocated bases within occupied territory. These maps formed the basis for those featured in our report, which were designed by @LCarabinier.