Turkish-backed armed groups continue to uproot trees and loot archaeological sites in Afrin
North-Press Agency
This week, members of the Turkish-backed armed group known as Ahrar al-Sharqiya uprooted 70 olive trees in a field at the western entrance to the city of Afrin, which connects between the city and the Jinderis town, in preparation for the construction of a number of shops, a gas station and a car wash.
The Afrin Post website reported that the field belongs to the al-Ghubari family, where the members settled the land after uprooting olive trees in preparation for building shops and a fuel station.
On the other hand, the economic office of the al-Shamiya Front armed group counted the shops in the neighborhoods under its control in the city of Afrin with the purpose of imposing royalties on them.
Royalties will be imposed on stores opened by their owners while the other shops belonging to displaced Kurds will be rented out for the armed groups’ favor.
On Wednesday, the Human Rights Organization in Afrin said in its statement that the situation is getting worse in the Afrin region due to the violations committed by the Turkish-backed armed groups, as well as the difficulties from which the people of the region suffer.”
It added that on the 5th April, armed members belonging to the Turkish-backed Sultan Murad militia, which control some villages in the Sharran district, leveled the soil on the Sere-Kar hill between the two villages of Baarfa and Qarqina, and excavated it in search for antiquities.
On Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, quoting local sources, said that members of the Turkish-backed Sultan Suleiman Shah militia, locally known as al-Amshat, started digging in the archaeological site of Tal-Aranda located in Sheikh al-Hadid district in the western Afrin countryside with the aim of excavating its antiquities.
On the 6th April, the armed group dug up the archaeological hill located in the village of Arabo (Arab Oshaghi) in the Muabatli district in the northern Afrin countryside after cutting down dozens of oak, cypress and olive trees that surrounded the hill.