A girl, identified as Astir Abdul Salam Ahmad from Aleppo city, born in 2009, was abducted for military conscription on November 16, 2023, by the Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) al-Shabiba al-Thawriya, (Revolutionary Youth) faction, also known as the ‘Joanne Schurchkar’, as she left the Salah al-Din School for Girls in the city’s al-Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to return to her family’s home in the same neighborhood. She was taken to an SDF recruitment center.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) notes that Astir’s family has not been notified of what has happened to her, and she is forbidden to contact them or receive any visits from them. We are concerned that she will be forced to participate in direct and indirect military action.
It should be noted that approximately 296 children are currently conscripted in SDF military training camps.
