The PKK terrorist group's Syrian wing the People's Protection Units (YPG) is preparing to use civilian settlements as human shields as Turkey prepares to launch an anti-terror operation into northern Syria.
YPG/PKK terrorists at armed posts in Tal Abyad across from Turkey's southeastern border district of Akçakale were seen relocating and moving into civilian dwellings.
Some of them, also in civilian clothes, were patrolling on motorcycles. Footage from the area showed some elders and women leaving their houses, however, sources said the terrorists did not allow the young to leave.
A number of high-ranking terrorists have also reportedly sent their families to Raqqa and Qamishli by car.
Meanwhile, scores of military vehicles and terrorists in Ayn al-Arab, Raqqa, and Deir El-Zour were advancing to Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn.
'They want us to fight against Turkey'
Once using forcible recruitment tactics only at their checkpoints, the YPG/PKK has now begun raiding households for new members.
The YPG reportedly stepped up efforts to bolster its ranks two weeks ago, rounding up some 20 young people daily by force in areas of northern Syria that it occupies.
The terror group has forced at least 130 youths to take up arms in Tal Abyad, Raqqa, Ras al-Ayn, Manbij and surrounding towns, on the first day of of their 3-day mobilizing, local sources said.
One youth, who asked not to be named, told Anadolu Agency: "They [terrorists] came to my house at Quba village. They told me that if I do not surrender, they would capture my father."
Stating that he wanted to clear Turkey's soils of terrorists, he said, "However, they [YPG terrorists] want us to fight against Turkey."
The YPG/PKK is taking the young people they capture to training camps for new recruits in the north of Raqqa.
The developments came ahead of the planned military operation by Turkey and the Free Syrian Army (FSA). Turkey has long decried the threat from terrorists east of the Euphrates in northern Syria, pledging military action to prevent the formation of a "terrorist corridor" there.
Since 2016, Turkey's Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations in northwestern Syria have liberated the region from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, making it possible for Syrians who fled the violence to return home.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union — has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.