Turkish-backed factions uproot 2 million trees in Syria’s Afrin
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) said on Thursday that Turkish-backed armed Syrian opposition factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA), have uprooted two million trees since occupying the city of Afrin, northern Syria in 2018.
Recently, social media sites circulated pictures and video, showing the great change in vegetation cover in Afrin, in addition to scenes of SNA factions while cutting down trees.
Public Administration of Environment in AANES issued a statement on Thursday condemning the continuous cut down of trees by SNA factions in Afrin.
The city of Afrin was occupied by Turkey in 2018 following a military operation called “Olive Branch” to push away the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of protecting Turkey’s “national security”.
The operation caused the displacement of about 300.000 of the original inhabitants of the Kurds of Afrin who have been taking shelter in 40 villages and five camps in Shahba region since then.
The statement mentioned the extent of environmental damage caused to Afrin’s geography and to the lose of agricultural properties, especially olive trees.
Media Bozan, co-chair of the Local and Environment Administration said that Afrin contains 22 million trees two million of which were chopped down.
Local production of olives in Afrin, that reached 270.000 tons annually, decreased after displacing the original inhabitants and cutting trees massively, according to Bozan.
Bozan told North Press that it is the responsibility of the UN to reveal the crimes that have been committed against the environment since the SNA took control over Afrin, and their danger on population and nature.
She went further saying that ignoring the issue by international institutions urges the SNA to increase practicing more violations against the population and the environment.
The areas held by Turkish forces and their affiliated SNA factions, witness security chaos, including arrests, kidnappings, thefts and successive murders in light of the factions’ disability to maintain security.