SNA factions prevent farmers of Syria’s Afrin from harvesting olives
AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – Two factions of the Turkish-backed armed opposition, aka the Syrian National Army (SNA), prevented the locals in the southern and southeastern countryside of Afrin, northwestern Syria, from collecting the olive harvest.
An original inhabitant of Afrin told North Press correspondent on Thursday the Sham Legion (Faylaq al-Sham) and Hamza Division factions forbade dozens of farmers in the villages of Basoufan, Barad, Burj Haydar, and Kabashin in southern Afrin from gathering the olive harvest in farmlands close to contact lines with the Syrian government forces.
The factions accused the farmers of “espionage and monitoring military posts,” the source added. This came in tandem with the arrest of three people from the area a week ago by the factions. They were released a few days later after paying ransom.
The source noted that the Sham Legion faction agreed to allow farmers to collect the olive harvest but in return for granting them 60 percent of the harvest. Many refused to do so and fear of not being able to gather the harvest this year.
In early October, by the start of the olive harvest season, a local source in Afrin revealed that the Sultan Suleiman Shah faction, also known as the al-Amshat, started imposing royalties in US dollars on local olive farmers.
According to a report by the Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press, around 5,030 olive trees and 2,060 pomegranate trees were cut down and the rest are fruit and forest trees. Most of the trees were chopped down for logging and sale in markets.
Afrin has been under the occupation of Turkey and the SNA factions since 2018 following a military operation dubbed “Olive Branch” against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of preserving Turkey’s national security.
The operation caused the displacement of about 300,000 of the original inhabitants of the Kurds of Afrin who have been taking shelter in 42 villages and five camps in Aleppo northern countryside, locally known as Shahba region, since then.