20 hectares of forest burns in Syria’s Afrin countryside
AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – On Thursday, a fire destroyed about two thousand forest trees, in Sheikh al-Hadid district, in Afrin countryside.
An eyewitness told North Press that the fire extended seven kilometers in the vicinity of Hajj Hasnah village in Sheikh Hadid district, resulting in the burning of more than 20 hectares, including about 2,000 forest trees.
Sources in the pro-Turkish factions said that the fire was caused by government artillery shelling, while residents accused those factions’ members of indiscriminate firing, which caused the fire.
The White Helmets Organization (Civil Defense) attributed the inability of its teams to reach the site of the fire to the speed of the wind and the failure of fire trucks to reach all sites due to the ruggedness of the area.
Afrin city and its environs north of Aleppo have been under the control of the Turkish-backed armed groups since March 2018.
Last October, Ibrahim Sheikho, the co-chair of the Human Rights Organization – Afrin Branch, said that Turkish forces and armed groups loyal to them burned and uprooted more than 280,000 olive trees.
The number of olive trees in the Afrin region before Turkish forces and the factions loyal to them took control of it amounted to 18 million, according to the statistics of the Agriculture Board of the Autonomous Administration in Afrin.
Since Turkish forces and armed factions took control of Afrin, they have burned more than 12,000 hectares of land, according to Sheikho.