SNA faction eliminates green space in Syria’s Afrin due to logging
AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – A faction of the Turkish-backed armed opposition, aka the Syrian National Army (SNA), eliminated the green spaces in the countryside of Afrin, northwestern Syria, due to excessive logging.
An exclusive source told North Press that the SNA’s Division 50 has cut down hundreds of forest trees in the village of Qatmah in the northeast of Afrin and sold them to merchants in the city of Azaz and al-Bab in the countryside of Aleppo.
The source pointed out that Ahmad Abu Shahud and Ahmad al-Hamdou, both leaders of the faction, supervise the logging of trees.
The faction provides protection during logging operations then the trees are loaded on large trucks and sold to wood dealers in Azaz and Bab, according to the source.
He noted that the persistent logging of trees led to the elimination of forests and green space west of the village.
The Afrin region has been under the control of Turkish forces and their affiliated SNA factions since March 2018 following a military operation dubbed ‘Olive Branch’. Since then, the region has witnessed numerous human rights violations against its residents and their properties.
Since the occupation of Afrin in 2018, SNA factions have been logging trees, and clearing vast lands, turning green spaces into barren lands, either to sell them and make profits or to build settlements and settle families of SNA militants.