Turkey’s factions impose $500 on every 200 olive trees in Syria’s Afrin
ALEPPPO NORTHERN COUNTRYSIDE, Syria (North Press) – A Turkish-backed Syrian armed opposition faction known as Sultan Suleiman Shah (al-Amshat) imposed, yesterday, a royalty on olive orchards which belong to the residents of Sheikh Hadid district of Afrin countryside, northern Syria.
The new royalty imposed is a new violation committed by the factions against the residents of Afrin.
The new royalty forces the people to pay $500 for every 200 olive trees they belong, eyewitnesses told North Press.
Al-Amshat faction threatens to arrest, abduct, and torture everyone who evade the royalty.
Two days ago, the Turkish-backed Jaysh al-Islam faction cut 50 pomegranate and olive trees in addition to four tall nuts trees in the Turkish-controlled region of Afrin.
A report released by the Human Rights Organization-Afrin early this year said the Turkish forces and their affiliated Syrian opposition factions have cut up to 314,400 olive and forest trees since the invasion of Afrin region.
“They burned more than 11,000 olive and forest trees and an agricultural area equivalent to 11,000 acres”, the report added.
The city of Afrin and its villages, north of Aleppo, have been controlled by Turkish forces and the affiliated factions since March 2018.
The Afrin region has been witnessing cases of killing, kidnapping and arrest, in addition to frequent bombings, amid the inability of the factions controlling it to settle the security in the region.