The U.S.-backed YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist group, abducted three more children from two northern Syrian districts in the Aleppo province, an official said.
Redor al-Ahmad, the spokesperson for the opposition group Independent Kurdish Association, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that a 13-year-old from Manbij, and a 14-year-old and 15-year-old from Raqqa were kidnapped by the terrorists.
Ahmad said the terrorists prevented the kidnapped children from contacting their families and were taken to so-called training camps for armed training.
Since the beginning of the year, he added, the terrorist organization has kidnapped more than 35 children from areas it occupies in Aleppo, Raqqa, Deir el-Zour and Hassakeh provinces to recruit them into its armed forces.
The U.N.'s Children and Armed Conflict Report 2023 revealed that the PKK/YPG terrorist group and its affiliated structures, operating under the name SDF in Syria, forcibly recruited 231 children into their armed forces.
The report said the terror organization and other affiliated structures also killed or maimed eight children in 2023, and converted 31 schools and hospitals for their armed activities.
In his assessment of the report, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlighted the urgent situation in Syria, noting the distressing frequency of serious offenses against children.
He stressed the importance of following international laws, freeing all detained children without delay, stopping assaults on educational and medical facilities, and ensuring these buildings are not used for military activities.
The PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union – is responsible for over 40,000 civilian and security personnel deaths in Türkiye during an almost four-decadelong campaign of terror.
After losing significant territory and countless terrorists, the group ceded to its stronghold in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq near the Turkish border while its Syrian branch took advantage of a power vacuum created by the Syrian civil war since 2011 and invaded several resource-rich provinces with the help of the U.S.
Washington calls the YPG its ally under the pretext of driving out Daesh, which is a source of strain with its NATO ally Ankara, who says it’s "senseless" to use one terrorist group to fight another.
The PKK/YPG terrorists in the past nine years forced many locals to migrate, bringing their militants to change the regional demographic, seizing regional oil wells – Syria’s largest – to smuggle oil and generate revenue for its activities.
International law prohibits non-state armed groups from recruiting anyone under 18, and enlisting children under 15 is considered a war crime.
Though the PKK/YPG initially signed a pledge with Geneva Call – a Swiss humanitarian organization that works to "protect civilians in armed conflict" – to stop the use of child soldiers in 2014, its use of child soldiers has only increased since then.
It has recently abducted over 20 members of the Kurdish National Council (ENKS) in Hassakeh and Raqqa after local backlash to its plans to conduct so-called elections in northern Syria.
The ENKS was the first to boycott the elections, with its secretary-general, Muhammad Ismail, arguing that they viewed the elections as "illegitimate."
Soon, the boycott grew, accompanied by protests in Syria. The United States also warned against the elections, saying the conditions were "not feasible." The terrorists have since postponed the elections from June to August, but Türkiye wants them canceled altogether.
Ankara considers the move a first step to establishing a "PKK-run state" in Syria’s north, immediately across the border, as well as a threat to the territorial integrity of Syria.
Türkiye, which has troops inside northern Syria backing the Assad regime’s opposition, has pursued diplomatic talks to prevent the elections and has emphasized that it would endanger border security and regional peace.