The PKK/YPG terror group has forcibly recruited 17 children in the last two days in the regions they occupy in the Syrian provinces of Hasakah and Aleppo, sources told Anadolu.

The terror group, which has increased the number of “checkpoints” on main roads and especially in front of schools, has accelerated child abductions in the two provinces, according to the sources.

It kidnapped six children on Wednesday in the city center of Hasakah after high school final exams, and on Thursday seven children from Qamishli district and four children from Aleppo's Manbij district were abducted.

1,696 children in Syria recruited

Nearly 1700 children have been recruited by the PKK and its Syrian branch SDF in 2022 in Syria, according to a UN report. Many independent reports suggest PKK and SDF have often used children for terror activities against Turkish security forces. SDF is the fountainhead of PKK's terror network in Syria, with YPG and YPJ being one of its main affiliates.

Türkiye, the US, and the EU designate PKK as terrorist organisation which have carried out attacks against Turkish security forces and civilians including suicide bombings.

The annual UN report on children in armed conflict covers January to December 2022.

It said 32 children as young as 11 were also recruited and used in Iraq.

"I am gravely concerned by the recruitment and use of children by YPG/PKK. I urge them to end the recruitment and use of children and to release all children from its ranks," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the report.

As many as 1,696 children in Syria were recruited and used mostly by "SDF/YPG/PKK" and other armed groups and non-state actors.

The PKK terror group's Syrian branch, the SDF, recruited and used 637 children while 633 children were recruited by YPG/YPJ and four others by other components of the SDF.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.