The Kurdish National Council (KNC), a component of the Syrian National Coalition, has condemned the seizure of properties belonging to residents of the Kurdish-majority city of Jindires, east of Aleppo, by the Sham Legion, a faction of the Syrian National Army.
In a statement issued today, Tuesday, September 24, the council said that these lands are being “forcibly confiscated” under the pretext that they are “state-owned Ottoman communal lands.”
The council added that the Sham Legion recently seized lands owned by the Ma’moo family in Jindires, using bulldozers to divide the land and build cement walls around it, exploiting its military strength without any legal right.
The statement pointed out that the faction utilized its influence over judicial authorities in the region to prevent intervention and stop the “flagrant violation” of civilian property.
The council noted that the judiciary refused to authorize some Kurdish expatriates to appoint their relatives to manage their properties, accusing them of being “allegedly linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).”
The KNC demanded the immediate and final removal of armed factions from any matters related to Kurdish civilian properties, ensuring the protection of the original inhabitants’ rights and halting the “systematic exploitation” inflicted on the population by these factions.
The statement emphasized that the armed factions treat civilian properties as “spoils of war and an illegitimate source of financial gain.”
The Sham Legion has not commented on the statement. Meanwhile, Enab Baladi contacted the National Liberation Front of the Syrian National Army, under which the Sham Legion operates, for comment, but received no response by the time the report was published.
The KNC’s statement comes amid tense relations with the Syrian National Coalition and factions within the Syrian National Army. Previously, the council announced the suspension of its meetings with the coalition following reports of attacks on Kurdish civilians by military groups affiliated with the Syrian National Army in the city of Afrin, north of Aleppo.
In a previous conversation with Enab Baladi, an official source in the Kurdish National Council, who requested anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss details with the media, stated that the council informed the coalition of its meeting suspension, accompanied by a list of demands.
The KNC’s message to the coalition included, “We, the representatives of the Kurdish National Council in the coalition, demand the immediate removal of al-Amshat faction’s representative from the coalition’s general assembly due to his faction’s heinous violations against our people in areas under his control in Sheikh Hadid and Maabatli. The most recent incident occurred in the village of Kakhrah belonging to Maabatli, in addition to the inappropriate behavior of his representative on the coalition’s page. We announce that we will not attend meetings until the violations are entirely halted,” according to the source.
According to the source, the KNC did not intend to publicly discuss its demands from the coalition, but the latter leaked details of the issue to the media.
An official source in the coalition confirmed the details of the dispute at the time without providing further information. Meanwhile, the coalition’s public relations office declined to respond to Enab Baladi‘s inquiries on the same issue.
Several Syrian and international human rights organizations have previously documented violations by factions of the Syrian National Army in rural areas of Aleppo, including looting, theft, property seizure, extortion, and the failure of accountability and prevention measures against these violations.