Entire Logging of 3 thousand olive trees in one village in Afrin
Afrin – North-Press Agency
The Turkish-backed armed opposition groups in a village of Rajo district, north of Afrin region, have carried out wrongful improper prune of thousands of trees, owned by the forcibly displaced people of Afrin, now living in the city of Aleppo and its northern countryside, to convert them into firewood and sell them in Azaz and al-Bab markets.
As the Turkish-backed al-Hamzat militia has logged 3,000 trees in the village of Qada, 9km south of Rajo district, to accuse the owners of olive trees of previous relations with the Autonomous Administration, while the real owners live now in the city of Aleppo and its northern countryside after being displaced during the Turkish military invasion in Afrin in January 2018.
Local sources from Afrin confirmed to North-Press that the percentage of trees which were cut in the last period has exceeded 30% across the whole region.
Muhammad Fadil, a resident of Qada village, said that the Turkish-backed militia has begun a month ago to cut the olive trees on both sides of the road that connects the center of Rajo district and the village of Qada, starting from the intersection of Darwishiya village to the valley of the village, known as "Maidana".
Fadil said that about 15 militants are working in continuous operations of logging, arriving on a daily basis from the village of Atmana, which is considered to be as the headquarters of al-Hamzat militia, which had issued a decision to cut down the trees in the area.
Moreover, the operation of logging the trees heads toward agricultural lands of Darwishiya village of Rajo district, east of the village of Qada and Dumbali of Muabatli district, south of the village, in light of the dangers of damaging more than 10 thousand trees that belong to the Syrian-Kurdish displaced villagers, according to local sources.
North-Press documented in photos the process of logging Mahmoudiya forestry trees in the region of Afrin, north of Aleppo.
Furthermore, the Human Rights Organization-Afrin has documented in a report published on the 16th of last January, the process of cutting down more than 180 thousand olive and forestry trees by the Turkish-backed armed opposition groups, in addition to cutting down more than 300 rare and perennial trees and 15 thousand oak trees for trading purposes.