Syria’s Afrin becoming arid due to illegal logging
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Days ago, footage went viral on social media outlets showing trees being cut down close to Midanky Dam in Afrin region, north of Aleppo Governorate, in a scene seemed painful for the inhabitants.
Afrin, which used to be a path and a battleground between invading armies of the East and the West from the early ages of history, kept its vegetation a green one until recently.
The video was a chain in a series. Nonetheless, the way and the scale of cutting down trees which was documented were striking.
Notably, offences against nature in Afrin are carried out by Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA).
The reality shows that the SNA factions are making profits out of the “business.”
The Kurdish-majority region of Afrin, 60 km north of Aleppo city in northern Syria, has been under the occupation of Turkey since 2018 following a two-month military operation called “Olive Branch” between Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Turkish forces along with SNA factions.
The operation led to hundreds of casualties whether military personnel or civilians, in addition to the displacement of about 300.000 of the original inhabitants.
Sham Legion, which operates in Rajo district of Afrin countryside, assigned the task of cutting down trees to a person called Abu al-Baraa who comes from the city of Harasta in Rif Dimashq Governorate.
The business which Abu al-Baraa was assigned seems fruitful, as he sells a ton of wood in the city of Afrin in return for $140.
Afrin was one of the main regions that were immensely scarred in the Syrian crisis. The suffering of Afrin people or the encroachments on its nature did not start with the so-called Operation Olive Branch,” early in 2018.
In 2015 Turkey commenced building a concrete wall between Syria and Turkey. Being the third longest one worldwide, the wall was infamous in other senses.
Due to the most unmarked border line between the two countries and since Afrin is mostly a mountainous region, it was hit mercilessly.
Large spots of acres on the Syrian side of the border were included arbitrarily into Turkey due to the geography of the border areas which belonged to the same topography. Afrin was not an exception to the case.
In January 2018 Ain Dara archeological Temple was targeted in a Turkish airstrike. The attack on the Ain Dara Temple was not a random one. What followed was significant. Afrin’s history and culture that go back to thousands of years were going to be uprooted.
De-vegetation is not confined to the olive trees, however, every aspect of trees, whether forestry or fruitful ones, are targeted by the ruthless machinery of the SNA factions. Arbutus, oak and olive, among others, are not spared.
Human rights organizations say nearly 50% of the Afrin vegetation has been destroyed by the armed groups of the SNA.
Last week, the Erbil-based Kurdish outlet media Rudaw reported that since Afrin was occupied in 2018 almost two million trees were cut down.
On September 6, Afrin Post, a local website following up on the developments in Afrin after being occupied by Turkey, reported that Ahrar al-Sharqiya faction sold trees chopped from al-Mahmudiya forest at the entrance of the city of Afrin.
Reports said that the arid lands which were previously covered by forestry are being sold as real estates by the Hamzat Division. Each estate is sold in return for 4-6 USDs.
On September 3, large amounts of forestry on Mount Qazeqli in the Jindires district of Afrin were set on fire by arsonists. Large areas which were green were reduced to ashes.
On August 24, North Press published a report highlighting another, though strikingly strange, breach committed against vegetation in Afrin. The report showed how Syrian settlers are growing up caravan of camels in an area that never ever was home to such a kind of livestock.
Being a prey to an internationally-hatched game of nations, a dirty one though, it seems that every aspect of Afrin culture and livelihood is on the target, for now at least.