From kidnappings for ransom to armed robberies and torture: residents of Syria's Afrin region say they are suffering a litany of abuses at the hands of Turkish-backed Syrian opposition factions.
They say the fear of harassment has kept them shuttered inside their homes since Ankara and its allies overran the then overwhelmingly Kurdish city in March after a two-month air and ground offensive.
Their testimonies, given under pseudonyms because of fear of retribution, paint a picture of a chaotic city with little protection for civilians.
"They robbed my son's house and didn't leave a thing -- not even the clothes," 55-year-old resident Ahmad tells Agence France Presse.
His own motorcycle and 20 gas canisters were seized by fighters, who also looted his family's liquor store.
Since Turkish troops and pro-Ankara Arab rebels captured the city from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the United Nations and human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have documented widespread abuses.
Half of the enclave's 320,000 residents fled, according to a recent report by the UN Commission of Inquiry, and most are unable to return.
Those who have often found their homes occupied by fighters or by Arab civilians displaced from other parta of Syria, the UN said.
Other returned to homes "stripped of furniture, electrical appliances and all decor," in large-scale looting.
Ahmad and his family fled the fighting but came back recently to scenes of devastation with their property looted and their hometown barely recognizable.
Salim, 50, owns several olive groves in the fertile agricultural land outside the city but he can no longer reach them without permission from the new authorities.
"If you don't get a paper from the local council, you can't enter your own land," the father of three complains.
Even with authorization, the roads are dangerous for Kurdish civilians.
"An armed faction could find you on the way to your land and kidnap you for a ransom," ranging from $15,000 to $50,000, he tells AFP.
"Kurds don't dare leave their homes."
Both the UN and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported cases of kidnapping for ransom.
The Britain-based Observatory said it documented at least 40 people abducted and taken to "hostage houses" in recent weeks.
Opposition factions have accused Kurdish residents of being loyalists of the Damascus regime, or members of the YPG or its Turkish rebel ally, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
