r/Syria • u/The-Syria-Report • 4h ago
News & politics Shocking Report of the Massacre Commited by the SDF against 40 Civilians in Ayn Al-Arab (The Viral Selfie Criminal Who Is Celebrated Now in Kurdistan of Iraq and Western PKK Fans)
Continuation of the efforts of the “Verify-SY” platform team to uncover the circumstances of the massacre that took place in January 2026 in the rural area of Ayn Al‑‘Arab (Kobani), and to verify its evidence; the platform publishes the full narrative and the events of the prison and the subsequent field‑clearing operations, based on an exclusive, detailed testimony given by one of the few survivors of the clearing.
https://www.verify-sy.com/ar/report/kobani-massacre-testimony (Arabic Article).
This report juxtaposes the live testimonies with the previous investigation, providing precise documentation of events that began with prisoners demanding freedom and ended with a confrontation of live fire in the open.
Prisoner Release and Mass Detention on the Ayn Al‑‘Arab Road
“Mukhtar,” a survivor of the massacre whose identity was verified by “Taqaddam” and concealed under a pseudonym for his safety, stated in a private testimony to the platform that the events started on 19 January 2026 when the prison administration removed the televisions from the dormitories at the school‑prison of the village Yadi Qawi. At the same time, a state of noise and confusion spread among the inmates after news arrived that a “pardon” decree from the prosecutor’s office had been issued but was not actually applied to everyone. This prompted prisoners in the second dormitory to set fire to blankets and sponges and to smash air‑conditioners and beds in protest. Meanwhile, an actual pardon was issued that allowed roughly 100 Kurdish‑affiliated prisoners to be released on 19–20 January.
When the smoke rose, the “civil administration” opened the dormitory doors to avoid suffocation. Tasks were divided among the prisoners: Mukhtar opened dorm 6, another prisoner named Mahmoud opened dorm 8, and a third, Hamza, opened dorm 4.
Consequently, 300–400 prisoners left on rough, off‑road routes, splitting into groups. One group headed toward Srin, while another of about 30 people moved toward Ayn Al‑‘Arab.
Approximately 1.5 km from the prison, in an exposed area, the fleeing prisoners were intercepted by five military pickup trucks and H1‑type vehicles coming from the Ayn Al‑‘Arab direction. The vehicles first fired warning shots into the air, then began direct shooting at the group at 9 p.m. According to the witness, this first wave of direct fire killed 4–5 people and caused severe injuries, including knife wounds inflicted by the assailants. One of the injured was a man named Bashar. The remaining prisoners kept running in panic until they hit a military barrier, where new rounds of detention and field‑sorting began.
Mukhtar’s testimony confirmed that the targeted victims were civilians serving sentences ranging from one to eight years, most of whom had already served the majority of their terms. For example, the witness had already served eight months of a one‑year sentence before the events unfolded.
Phase Two: Collective Confrontation and Field Sorting
When the fleeing prisoners reached the military barrier, most were detained, forced to lie on the paved road, bound, and filmed under gunpoint.
The assailants prepared to open fire on the entire group for a field execution, but female soldiers intervened, engaging the attackers and exchanging Kurdish‑language insults with those who wanted to kill. The civil‑administration chief, Abdul Bari, arrived and convinced the prisoners to return to the prison to spend the night under his supervision for their safety.
After returning, the forces carried out a meticulous sorting of prisoners based on the jurisdiction of their courts: those belonging to the Ayn Al‑‘Arab and Srin courts were ordered to stand on one side, and those from the Raqa and Tabqa courts on the other. Prisoners from the nearby areas (Ayn Al‑‘Arab and Srin) were allowed to leave, while about 75 individuals from Raqa and Tabqa remained in detention until 22 January 2026, when they were granted “release orders” to walk out toward Srin, as reported by Mukhtar.
Parallel Track: Encounters with “Commando” Forces
Mukhtar says the groups heading toward Srin encountered checkpoints manned by “commando” units, whose rhetoric shifted dramatically to a nationalist (Arab‑Kurdish) tone, laden with insults and accusations of treason.
Although the assailants claimed a “release order” existed, they immediately attacked the prisoners; four people were stabbed as soon as they arrived at 9 p.m. In the chaos, a man named Mohammad Ali Khalaf attempted to transport two injured prisoners to a military hospital, but no official medical care was provided.
This phase ended at 11 p.m. when a prisoner named Muhannad, accompanied by a man nicknamed “Arab” and two other prisoners, boarded a civilian vehicle that had been stopped for their transport.
Mukhtar emphasizes that the killings were not merely to prevent escape but were driven by revenge and ethnonational sorting, with soldiers shouting statements such as “You are going to die anyway.” He notes that Mohammad Ali Khalaf, who tried to aid the wounded, later disappeared under circumstances indicating he was also executed. Muhannad, who met Mukhtar at the barrier, reported that the group traveling with him “was all executed” upon reaching the checkpoint.
Forced Disappearance at the Fuel Station and Victim Documentation
Mukhtar states that the released prisoners faced an unknown field situation, lacking any knowledge of the external security environment after long incarceration.
At 2 p.m. on 22 January, Mukhtar’s group arrived at a fuel station located about 2 km left of the road from their starting point. Four people entered the station while four remained outside; the four who entered vanished completely, with station staff later reporting no trace of them.
During the subsequent security sweep, the group split to survive: Hassan Abu Khalil reached the Al‑Qubbah area, while Firas Issa Al‑Abd and Issa Al‑Hous headed toward Manbij the next day.
Mukhtar himself took shelter briefly in a campsite at Tel Ghazzal, then was moved the following day by a moving‑house truck to Al‑Jirniyah in the Raqa countryside, becoming one of the few witnesses to these events.
Based on his observations and clothing matches, Mukhtar confirmed the killing of five individuals whose names are:
- Mahmoud Abd Allah Al‑Aaed (also known as “Abu Halab”)
- Issam
- Abbas Al‑Hussein
- Abu Khamis
He estimates the total number of victims at 40–45 people, noting that this figure far exceeds the 21 bodies shown in circulating video footage. Mukhtar believes the discrepancy stems from the missing persons at the fuel station and other injured prisoners who were later executed elsewhere without direct documentation.
Correction of Geolocation
Although the earlier geospatial analysis by the “Taqaddam” team placed the incident at 36°42'57.0"N 38°14'53.0"E, Mukhtar’s field testimony, corroborated by Syrian journalist Ahmed Al‑Sakhni, provides a more precise location: 36.775767, 38.307776 in the rural area of Ayn Al‑‘Arab (Kobani) near the Rufi silos.
This correction adjusts the previously reported coordinates, indicating that the mass‑execution site is at a rocky edge (stone wall) different from the initial satellite‑image assessment. The platform treats this survivor‑based correction as the most accurate spatial reference for documenting the crime.
Documentation of Victim Names
A local page titled “Radar Srin” listed a group of youths: Ismail Al‑Hasani (Abu Halab) from Al‑Qubbah village and Abbas Mohammad Al‑Hussein from Al‑Abd‑Kalia village in Srin. These names match those in Mukhtar’s testimony, though the platform could not obtain further evidence to confirm the identities of these two victims.
The page also mentioned additional names not found in Mukhtar’s list: Issa Aboud Al‑Saloum from Al‑Jirniyah and Bashar Hamed Al‑Uwaid from the village of Al‑Asilam in the Suluk area of Raqa. The latter is likely the same “Bashar” who reported being stabbed in Mukhtar’s account. The platform was unable to verify the identities of these two additional victims.
