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Buying and Selling.. Armed Militias Trade in Displaced People's Properties in Afrin
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Armed groups' complicity in buying and selling seized properties indicates systematic demographic change targeting the region and its original Kurdish residents
Local sites in Afrin reported that "Ahrar al-Sham" militia in Afrin has begun new extortionist practices, introducing illegal fees of 1,500 U.S. dollars on building contractor Adnan Hassan from Shetana village in Mobata/Maabatli district, to grant him approval for constructing a building near "Al-Tarmanini" quarry in Al-Ashrafiyah neighborhood.
These violations coincided with an illegal sale of a seized house in Al-Ashrafiyah neighborhood near the reservoir, where a person from Homs city sold a property belonging to citizen Ismat Hussein from Joqiyeh village to another person from Anjar town in western Aleppo countryside for 2,200 U.S. dollars.
These practices reflect an escalating pattern of violations in the region, where armed groups exploit their authority to impose levies on local residents, while looted properties from their original owners are openly traded.
Human rights reports indicate the spread of property seizures from displaced people in Afrin, amid the absence of any legal deterrent or international oversight on the actions of armed militias or foreign civilians who have settled in the region since its occupation in March 2018.
Local activists confirm that illegal buying and selling of stolen properties aims to create demographic change in the region and obliterate property rights of its original inhabitants.
Violations continue in Afrin amid complete international silence, while owners of looted properties appeal to international human rights organizations to intervene and protect their properties. Observers indicate these practices undermine original residents' rights to return to their properties, and these developments raise increasing concerns about deepening the humanitarian crisis in the region and undermining future justice opportunities.
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