SNA faction imposes new tax on olive tree owners in Syria’s Afrin
AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – A faction of the Turkish-backed armed opposition, aka the Syrian National Army (SNA), announced on Saturday imposing a new tax on owners of olive trees in several villages in Afrin, northwestern Syria.
A local source told North Press that the Hamza Division faction imposed a tax of two dollars per tree on olive tree owners under the pretext of protecting the harvest.
The faction imposed taxes in the villages of Bablit, Kafr Shil, Marateh, Kafr Dali Foqani, Kafr Dali Tahtani, Faqiran, and Kokan, according to the source.
Since the Turkish forces and SNA factions occupied Afrin and its countryside in 2018, they have imposed taxes and royalties on farmers during the olive and fruit harvest seasons.
The taxes range from those imposed on land plowing and pruning to harvesting and olive pressing.
They also charge fees to allow farmers to cultivate their lands and control thousands of hectares of farmland that originally belonged to the local population of Afrin.
In August, the SNA factions annulled legal authorizations previously issued to relatives of displaced landowners to harvest crops on their behalf even though these authorizations were approved by the local council in Afrin.
Despite the intended purpose of the protection tax to safeguard the region’s olive trees, many continue to be stolen or excessively cut down, often with the complicity of Turkish-backed SNA factions.