IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – After much enquiry about the price of wood sold on markets in the town of Dana north of Idlib, northwest Syria, Alawi decided to buy the imported one from Afrin, owing to low prices compared to other kinds.
The 32-year-old Alawi al-Barges says the amounts of wood from Afrin sold on markets was little last year since there were other competing kinds of wood such as pistachios peel, apricot, peach, nuts and others.
Today, with the approach of winter, there is a notable increase in the amounts of wood imported from Afrin.
According to merchants in Idlib, recently, there has been an increase of about 30% in the wood amounts imported by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front) from Afrin in cooperation with Syrian opposition factions, known as Syrian National Army (SNA), compared to September and October 2021.
Merchants told North Press that HTS monopolizes wood brought from Afrin in coordination with its counterpart ruling the area [SNA]. In return, restrictions are imposed on importing wood from Turkey.
The city of Afrin was occupied by Turkey in 2018 following military operation “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.
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 in the area surrounding Midanki Lake.
Fayez al-Doghim, a journalist from Tel Abyad north of Raqqa, posted a video on his Facebook account, documenting cutting thousands of trees within hours in a forest surrounding Midanki Lake in the countryside of Afrin.
Al-Dighem said cutting down of trees close to the lake was not a single act. Rather, it was carried out by bulldozers, and this is not the first time, indicating that the few remaining trees, which are almost seen, may be the next target of a new cutting process.
Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) said on September 8 that Turkish-backed SNA factions have uprooted two million trees since occupying the city of Afrin in 2018.
Late in August, a meeting was held between representatives of the Economic Resources Directorate and the Financial Committee of the Syrian Interim Government and their counterparts in the Sham Legion and Sultan Murad Division in Afrin.
According to a source from the Finance Office of the Ministry of Economy of the Interim Government, a civil umbrella for the HTS, the two parties agreed to import 300 tons of wood per week in September and October in return for 110 USDs each ton, and importing wood from Afrin to Idlib is forbidden except by HTS.
In September and October 2021, Idlib used to receive 200 tons of wood brought from Afrin weekly in return for 100 USDs per ton, according to the same source.
Such figures reflect a clear increase in importing wood from Afrin in 2022 compared to 2021.
Mhyar Laboudi, a wood merchant from the town of Binnish in the countryside of Idlib, says that owing to reduction in amounts of wood imported from Turkey, wood imported from Afrin is the most wanted.
In Afrin, a ton of wood is sold in return for 160-180 USDs. However, that could differ according to the quality and the kind of wood while a ton of pistachio, apricot and nuts is sold in return for 230 USDs.
HTS reduced the amounts of wood brought from Turkey through Bab al-Hawa border crossing with the aim to increase amounts coming from Afrin, according to merchants.
Laboudi accuses Amshat Division, Sultan Murad Division and the Sham Legion of cutting down Afrin trees via special workshops for the sake of wood.