On August 26, Syrian journalist Bakr Al-Qassem was arrested by the Turkish-backed military police in the eastern Aleppo city of Al-Bab. He and his wife were taken to the Hawar Kilis border crossing with Turkey, where he was subjected to brutal beatings. Amidst this ordeal, Bakr kept asking exactly what he was being charged with but never received an answer from his assailants.
While his wife was released, Bakr was handed over to Turkish intelligence and taken to Turkey.
This incident underscores the systematic measures employed by Turkish-affiliated factions and intelligence to silence dissent and suppress media freedom in Syrian territory under Turkish control.
Following his arrest, military police raided Bakr’s residence, confiscating all electronic devices, storage equipment, cameras, phones, laptops, and personal valuables, including cash and gold.
Bakr, who hails from the town of Ma'ar Shurin in Idlib countryside, has dedicated his life to covering local events with no resources besides his voice and camera while reporting for various international and regional media outlets.
Fortunately, Bakr was released after a week of detention following tremendous pressure from local Syrian activists.
Impunity for Perpetrators
Bakr's story is one of hundreds of painful accounts which highlight the severe violations and war crimes committed by Turkish forces and factions of the "Syrian National Army" (SNA) in the territories of northern Syria occupied by Turkey.
The SNA was established on December 30th, 2017, under the auspices of the Syrian Interim Government, a body affiliated with the Syrian opposition with the expressed purpose of unifying armed factions supported by Turkey in northern Syria.
The formation of the SNA came after a series of Turkish military operations which integrated numerous factions into a single structure. The aim was to purportedly enhance their organization and effectiveness against the Assad regime and majority-Kurdish militant groups.
The SNA controls territories in northern Syria spanning the northern and northeastern countryside of Aleppo, including key areas like Afrin, Jarablus, Al-Bab, and Azaz. It also oversees a border strip extending from Tal Abyad in Raqqa province to Ras al-Ain in Hasakah countryside.
Turkey has justified its presence in these territories as part of an effort to establish a safe zone in northern Syria, allowing some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees it hosts to be sent home. However, Turkey's occupation has fostered an environment of human rights violations and impunity for the perpetrators, making these areas anything but safe.
The ”Syrian National Army” includes a large number of armed factions that operated independently before their unification. Some of the most notable factions within it include:
-Sultan Murad Division: One of the strongest factions, it is primarily composed of Syrian Turkmen and enjoys a particularly close relationship with the Turkish government. This group stands out within the Syrian opposition for its Turkish nationalist outlook and stands accused of several war crimes–these range from bombing civilian areas and torturing prisoners to looting homes and recruiting child soldiers.
-Suleiman Shah Brigade (“Amshat”): Another Turkish-backed faction that is highly active in northern Syria with a particularly nasty reputation for crimes against civilians, including allegations of extorting displaced people and kidnapping women for sexual assault.
-Sham Legion: A group comprising several Syrian Islamist opposition factions operating in Aleppo and its countryside.
-Al-Majd Legion: A prominent faction that has participated in various operations against the Assad regime and Syrian Democratic Forces, who are also accused of stealing homes from displaced civilians. They made headlines in 2019 when some of their fighters filmed themselves trampling and mutilating the bodies of dead SDF fighters.
-Ahrar Al-Sharqiya: A faction mainly made up of fighters from Deir ez-Zor and the eastern region, including many from the persecuted al-Shaitat tribe. They are a particularly violent and volatile group with a documented history of murdering civilians and attacking other SNA militias over petty disputes, exacerbating the alliance’s recurring bouts of infighting.
-Jaysh Al-Islam: Initially a leading Islamist faction based in Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, it later relocated to northern Syria following the fall of Ghouta. They are accused of kidnapping Razan Zaitouneh and three other prominent opposition activists–known as the “Douma Four,” who have never been seen since their disappearance in December 2013–as well as torturing captives and putting them in cages to use as human shields from regime airstrikes.
-Hamza Division ('Hamzat'): This group played a crucial role in Turkish operations such as “Olive Branch and “Peace Spring.” It is considered one of the most equipped and highly trained factions and is significantly involved in the administration of areas in northern Syria, primarily in northern Aleppo and the Hasakah countryside. They are also known for their armed clashes with Ahrar al-Sharqiya and Jaysh al-Islam as well as crimes against civilians.
Despite the SNA comprising a large number of brigades and battalions under the formal auspices of the Syrian Interim Government's Ministry of Defense, the ministry's role is largely symbolic. Consequently, the region has experienced severe instability, with clashes and infighting between factions having become a semi-regular occurrence.
As the battles subsided, SNA factions began to divide the spoils of war, with the most substantial gains coming from smuggling operations through crossings into areas controlled by the Assad regime and the Syrian Democratic Forces. This facilitated the movement of fuel, goods, and people, as well as official border crossings between Syria and Turkey, generating over $1 million monthly.
By 2021, the "war of crossings" had nearly come to an end, with major factions asserting control over smuggling routes. Each faction was designated a specific crossing, alongside oversight of official crossings with Turkey. To avert a resurgence of infighting, they established agreements concerning these official crossings, outlining revenue shares–the controlling military faction would receive half of the revenues, a quarter would be allocated to local councils, and the remaining quarter would go to the interim government and the families of martyrs.
It is worth noting that Sayf Boulad Abu Bakr and Mohammad Hussein al-Jasim (Abu Amsha), two prominent leaders within the SNA, have been sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department due to accusations of significant human rights violations. Their factions, the Hamza Division and the Suleiman Shah Brigade, stand accused of committing these abuses on a systematic scale.
The SNA's dependence on Turkey arises from the latter being their sole international backer providing financial and military support. This reliance deepened after then-U.S. President Donald Trump terminated a CIA program in 2017 which had been designed to assist opposition factions with funding and arms. Turkey has sought to establish security for the region through agreements with Russia and Iran, deploying a substantial number of its troops throughout northern Syria.
Serious Human Rights Violations
Turkey is undoubtedly financing the SNA to serve its geopolitical interests in Syria, having carried out three major military operations on Syrian soil with the help of affiliated and funded military factions:
1. Operation Euphrates Shield (2016-2017): Launched in August 2016, this operation aimed to expel ISIS from border areas between Syria and Turkey, including cities like Jarablus and Al-Bab. It also sought to prevent the expansion of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) west of the Euphrates. The operation resulted in the capture of significant territory in northern Syria between Jarablus and Al-Bab, during which at least 497 civilians were killed by Turkish artillery and air strikes.
2. Operation Olive Branch (2018): This was initiated in January 2018 against the majority-Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG) in the Afrin region of northwestern Syria. Turkey considers the YPG a part of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which it classifies as a terrorist organization. This operation led to the capture of the city of Afrin and its surrounding areas–between 390 to 500 civilians were killed, allegedly by indiscriminate Turkish shelling and border guards shooting displaced people attempting to Turkey.
3. Operation Peace Spring (2019): Beginning in October 2019, this operation aimed to create a "safe zone" in northeastern Syria by pushing the SDF away from the Turkish border. It targeted areas between Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain, where Turkish forces gained control and intended to resettle Syrian refugees in designated "safe zones.” The offensive killed between 100 to 500 civilians and displaced 300,000 more while videos emerged of Turkish-backed fighters extrajudicially executing civilians. Further accusations included the use of white phosphorus incendiary munitions in civilian neighborhoods, widespread looting of abandoned homes, and ethnic cleansing of Syrian Kurds.
Numerous reports by media outlets and non-governmental organizations have continuously highlighted serious human rights violations in areas controlled by the Syrian National Army (SNA) in the years since Operation Peace Spring.
On February 29, 2024, Human Rights Watch stated that Turkey bears responsibility for potential violations and war crimes in Syria, particularly against the Kurdish population in the north in a report titled “‘Everything is by the Power of the Weapon’: Abuses and Impunity in Turkish-Occupied Syria.” The 74-page report combined interviews with 58 victims, survivors, relatives, and witnesses with input from NGOs, journalists, activists, and researchers. The report emphasized that these violations were perpetrated by Turkish forces and Syrian factions supported by Ankara –this means that Turkey, as an “occupying power,” is legally responsible for restoring public order, protecting civilians, and holding accountable those responsible for abuses.
The report documents cases of abduction, unlawful imprisonment, torture, and sexual violence. It also accused the Turkish military and intelligence agencies, including the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and several military intelligence directorates, of being involved in these human rights violations.
Furthermore, the organization highlighted the Turkish government’s deportation of Syrian refugees back to areas it controls in Syria, noting that over 1,700 individuals were returned to the Tal Abyad region alone in July 2023.
The report indicated that factions within the SNA engaged in widespread “looting, pillaging, and seizure of property,” with many victims unable to recover their belongings or receive adequate compensation. An internally displaced Yazidi man from the Ras al-Ain area expressed, “The hardest thing for me was to stand in front of my house and be unable to enter it.”
Human Rights Watch called on Turkey to “grant independent investigative bodies immediate and unrestricted access to areas under its control.”
According to a report from the Documentation Center for Violations in February, the number of individuals who were killed under torture in SNA faction prisons has reached 182. Additionally, the number of Syrians killed by Turkish gendarmerie gunfire rose to 586, including 106 children under 18 and 69 women, as of January 31, 2024. Furthermore, 3,089 individuals were injured by gendarmerie gunfire while attempting to cross the border or while living in border villages and towns, as well as farmers and landowners near the border, who were targeted with live ammunition.
Opposing the Turkish Occupation
In July, public discontent against the Turkish presence and its supported factions erupted into violent protests in al-Bab, Afrin, Azaz, and Jindires. This unrest stemmed from racism against Syrian refugees, forced deportations, and property encroachments by “racist” Turks, alongside opposition to President Erdoğan's calls for normalization with Bashar al-Assad.
Clashes broke out, with gunfire and rioting reported in multiple locations. Protesters targeted Turkish vehicles, blocked roads, and attacked Turkish positions in Atarib and al-Abzmo. The situation escalated following the anti-Syrian pogrom in Kayseri, leading to the removal of Turkish flags and the burning of vehicles, which resulted in four Syrians killed and others injured by Turkish bullets.
Demonstrators also protested at the Abu Zandain crossing near al-Bab, opposing its opening to the Syrian government. In response, Erdoğan threatened consequences for those insulting the Turkish flag while the government announced a judicial investigation into the flag-burning incident for “insulting state sovereignty.”
Protesters opposing the Turkish occupation face charges such as “insulting Turkey,” “disparaging the [Turkish] Army,” and “offending religious sentiments,” echoing accusations often used by the Assad regime against its opponents, like “undermining state security.”
Today, Turkey maintains control over the territories it occupies through its armed forces and intelligence agencies, with over 100 military bases, and observation points across northern Syria. It also exerts direct control over the SNA, supplying it with weapons, salaries, training, and logistical support.
Moreover, Turkey exercises administrative control over the occupied areas through local authorities. For instance, the Hatay provincial governor’s office directly oversees education, health services, financial assistance, and humanitarian aid in Afrin. In September 2023, Turkish media reported plans to appoint a single governor to supervise all Syrian territory under Turkish control, though no such developments have occurred to date.
In response to a joint inquiry from several UN special procedures in 2020, Turkey categorically denied exercising effective control over Syrian territory, particularly regarding its influence over the SNA and the interim government. However, substantial evidence supports classifying the situation as an occupation, as indicated by findings from various UN bodies, including the International Commission of Inquiry and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The current administration in northwestern Syria starkly contrasts the aspirations of the Syrian people, who rose up in 2011 demanding freedom, dignity, social justice, and an end to corruption. Instead, they now face similar oppressive practices under de facto authorities, albeit with a distinctly Turkish influence.
