Afrin: Syrian armed factions cut down more fruitful olive trees

Translated by: Hejar Abo

The armed Syrian factions, supported by the Turkish occupation, continue to cut down the fruitful olive trees belonging to the Kurdish population, in addition to threatening the owners of the olive groves to cut down more trees in the event of complaints against them.

The cutting process is carried out with the aim of woodcutting trees and selling them in Idlib markets or transporting them inside Turkey and selling them there at exorbitant prices, reaching the limits of 135 US dollars per ton, according to civil sources.

Local activists from Afrin revealed that the faction’s gunmen cut down dozens of olive trees surrounding the city center, as the Mu’tasim faction cuts down trees near Al-Ashrafieh neighborhood on a daily basis, and then transported them to Idlib to be wooded and sold there.

Also, members of the Al-Nikhba Army faction, which controls a part of the town of Medanki, are cutting down the forest trees located on the island of Maidanki lake, and those surrounding the lake as well, so the island and the lake seemed almost empty of the old trees that were there.

The cutting of trees has increased this month, as members of the armed factions also cut down 35 olive trees from the village of Abla in Bulbul district, owned to one of the village’s displaced named Hussein Mamo, and one of his relatives manages his property affairs through an official power of attorney from the owner.

According to the sources, his cousin who supervises the vineyard had tried to prevent them from cutting down trees, but the gunmen threatened him if he prevented them or if he dared to file a complaint against them, they would frame him for dealing with the Autonomous Administration previously.