Panorama of violations during December 2025 in areas of influence and control in Syria

Yekiti Media

Violations by the PYD administration during December

The end of November and beginning of December 2025 saw several violations by the PYD’s Asayish and affiliated organizations in various areas of Syrian Kurdistan.

First… Kidnapping of minors

In November 12, the Revolutionary Youth Organization kidnapped 14-year-old Haifa Abdulsalam Naasan from the city of Kobani.

In November 22, the Revolutionary Youth Organization kidnapped 12-year-old Musa Saleh Alo, a sixth-grade student from the village of Dadli in Kobani. His mother is Mirhan Abdul Qadir, and his father is a bus driver who works between Raqqa and Kobani.

In December 3, the Revolutionary Youth Organization kidnapped 12-year-old Basil Kamal Hamou, a sixth-grade student from the village of Garko in the Kobani area.

Political arrests…

In November 24, the Asayish arrested Heifidar Abbas, founder of the Barzani Descendants Movement, at the Semalka border crossing He was returning to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq from his hometown of Terba Spi after attending the funeral and memorial service for his father, who had died in Germany. In November 12, Hefidar Abbas was released two days after his arrest.

Other violations…

In the morning of Thursday, December 18, the city of Amuda witnessed the tearing down of the Kurdish National Council flag, where a banner bearing the image of the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party was hung on the door of the council. The office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party office in the same city was also subjected to a similar incident, as the Kurdish flag was taken down from the building and a picture was placed on the office door. No official statement was issued by the Council regarding the two incidents, which coincided with the Council’s celebrations of Kurdish Flag Day.

Violations by armed factions and the Syrian transitional government during the second half of December

A young man from the village of Juq was killed by armed thieves. Waheed Bakr Bakr, 25, from the village of Juq in the Afrin countryside, on the evening of Friday, December 5, 2025, after visiting his relatives in the village of Ain Hajar. A number of armed men tried to stop him with firearms before he reached the main intersection in order to steal his motorcycle.

They shot him when he did not stop, hitting him in the head with a bullet that exited through the back of his head. The armed men fled after confirming that he had been shot in the head and killed.

He was taken to a hospital in the city of Afrin to be released by the police and photographed as a traffic accident to cover up the crime.

In a different context, Syrian authorities arrested two Kurdish youths from Qamishlo as they were returning to their city at a military checkpoint in the Badia area east of Palmyra on December 21.

According to media sources, the two young men are Sheikho Faisal Khalil and Hamid Salman Mahmoud, both from the Al-Hilaliya neighborhood. They were accompanying a group of Gulf and Jordanian tourists on a hunting trip, working as tour guides for the group.

Sources reported that the checkpoint personnel detained all members of the group before releasing the tourists after verifying their identities, as they were Kuwaiti and Jordanian nationals, while the two Kurdish youths were arrested without any official explanation for their detention.

In another context, the mayor of the Bulbul district in the Afrin region issued a circular based on instructions from the director of the Afrin region, Masoud Batal, requesting residents of the district and its villages to submit their property registration and area statements within one week.

He emphasized that any delay would expose the owners of agricultural land and fields to legal accountability, including the confiscation of property for the benefit of the state.

This measure comes after the formation of an economic committee by verbal decision of the “Syrian Transitional Government,” which applies exclusively to the Afrin region and other Kurdish areas under Turkish influence, while excluding other areas such as Azaz, Al-Ra’i, Marea, and other Syrian provinces.

According to local sources, the decision comes under direct Turkish instructions and is seen as a move targeting the Kurdish population by putting pressure on their livelihoods and threatening their property, especially in light of the disruption of the departments responsible for issuing documents and the lack of the necessary personnel and expertise to complete the required transactions.