SNA faction siphons off aid provided by KRI to Syria’s Afrin
AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – Militants of Sultan Suleiman Shah Division (Amshat), affiliated with Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA), siphoned off on Saturday humanitarian aid provided by Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) to the town of Jindires in Afrin countryside, northwest Syria.
An exclusive source told North Press that the abovementioned division stole a large part of the aid while distributing it and transferred it to the village of Kurzaileh, in Sherawa district, in Afrin southern countryside.
On Friday, convoys of aid from Barzani Charitable Foundation (BCF) arrived in Afrin and Jindires through Bab al-Salameh crossing to help those affected by the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6.
On Feb. 6, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkey and northwest Syria, leading to large-scale destruction and thousands of deaths.
The deadly earthquake death toll in Syria surpassed 3.581 by Saturday night.
The division did not allow distributing the aid by civil community organizations in Afrin, according to the source.
The convoy was forced to pay $1.000 for each truck to enter the Syrian territory, the source added.
The town of Jindires has been marked as the most devastated area in Syria following the deadly earthquake, with a toll of 513 dead and 831 injured, in addition to the complete destruction of more than 200 buildings and the partial destruction of 500 others.
Afrin has been under the occupation of Turkey and its affiliated SNA factions since march 2018 following a military operation dubbed “Olive Branch” to push away the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of protecting the 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 40 villages and five camps in Aleppo northern countryside, locally known as Shahba region, since then.