SNA Sells Afrin’s Olive Trees as Firewood to Earthquake Victims
AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – On Monday, militants of Jaysh al-Sharqiyah (al-Sharqiyah Army), a faction within the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), cut down trees in the village of Kafira, south of the city of Afrin, in Aleppo northern Governorate.
A local source told North Press that militants of the aforementioned faction cut down 11 olive trees belonging to Muhammad Hamid Issa, from the village of Kafira, in Afrin to sell them as wood to people made homeless by the earthquake.
The source added that, recently, many Turkish-backed factions have sold cut-down trees as wood to earthquake-affected people living in tents and open spaces to use for heating as temperatures drop below zero.
Jindires, in the Afrin region, is among the worst earthquake-affected areas in Syria, with 513 dead and 831 injured. Over 200 buildings have completely collapsed and around 500 have been partially damaged.
On Jan. 20, 2018, the Turkish forces and the SNA factions launched the so-called “Olive Branch” military operation against Afrin to push away the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of protecting “Turkish 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 42 villages and five camps in Aleppo northern countryside, locally known as Shahba region, since then.
After the occupation of Afrin thousands of olive trees have been cut down by Turkish-backed SNA factions, according to press and human rights reports.