SNA beats olive press owner in Syria’s Afrin for not paying royalties
AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – Militants of the Sultan Murad Division, affiliated with the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, aka the Syrian National Army (SNA), attacked on Saturday an olive press owner and the workers in the countryside of Afrin, northwestern Syria, for refusing to pay royalties.
Residents in the town of Sharran in the northeast of Afrin told North Press that seven militants brutally assaulted the owner of an olive press and three workers.
They told North Press that the militants demanded the owner to pay the imposed annual fee, but he refused. As a result, they brutally assaulted him at the press yard.
Since the start of the olive harvest season, North Press correspondents reported that SNA factions have imposed royalties on farmers in exchange for allowing them to collect the olive harvest.
According to North Press sources, the faction imposes varying royalties on all presses in the area, ranging from $250 to $500 at the beginning of each year, in addition to other royalties on farmers during the harvest season.
On Sep. 20, Human Rights Organization-Afrin posted on its Facebook page that Sultan Suleiman Shah Division, aka al-Amshat, affiliated with the SNA, held a meeting with residents of the town of Sheikh Hadid in early September and informed them that royalties of $9 would be imposed on each olive tree in the upcoming harvest.
The source pointed out that imposing such royalties on farmers and olive oil factories in the area will increase the suffering of farmers there who are already struggling with hard living conditions.