{"id":39559,"date":"2020-05-30T18:08:45","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T18:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=39559"},"modified":"2020-05-30T18:08:45","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T18:08:45","slug":"Thousands of olive trees and dozens of hectares of wheat fields burn in Afrin ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/39559\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of olive trees and dozens of hectares of wheat fields burn in Afrin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aleppo northern countryside – North-Press Agency
\nDijla Khalil <\/strong>  <\/p>\n

 
\nFires that broke out on Friday in the Sherawa district of Afrin, northern Syria, resulted in the burning of thousands of olive trees and dozens of hectares of wheat fields amid local residents' accusations that armed groups which control the region are "starting the fires to expel the indigenous people of the region."   <\/p>\n

\nThe fires started from the village of Baseleh, southeast of the city of Afrin, which is under control of the Turkish-backed groups. Due to the speed of the winds, the fires extended to the plains of the villages of Aqiba and Beneh that are controlled by Syrian government forces before emergency teams were able to put them out in the late hours of Friday night.  <\/p>\n

\nAbdo Hassan, head of the Aqiba village council, told North-Press that on Friday morning, fires broke out in the plain of the village of Baseleh. Residents managed to put it out, but they again soon began to ignite in the fields of the village, and the armed groups were accused of starting it.<\/p>\n

\n"More than 4,000 olive trees and more than 60 hectares of wheat fields were burned in lands belonging to the villages of Baseleh, Jelber, and Beneh in the countryside of Afrin," he added.  <\/p>\n

\nHassan pointed out that locals started to harvest their crops prematurely in order to avoid fires, "as they have nothing but the crops, so how will they provide the livelihood in this besieged area, God help them?"<\/p>\n

\n"The groups are burning our crops. They did not only bomb us and forced us to flee, but they are now burning our crops and going after our livelihoods. They want to leave here too," Basil Ahmad, a resident of the village of Baseleh who moved to Aqiba during the Turkish invasion of Afrin, said.   <\/p>\n

\n"What can we do? We will reap our harvest before its time, because we have to; we have no other source of livelihood except for this crop," he said.<\/p>\n

\nFriday's fires lasted for more than six hours after devouring large areas of wheat fields and olive trees. Locals put out the fire and saved the remaining crops with water tanks and suppression plows in the late hours of the night.<\/p>\n

\nOn May 17th, fires devoured about 25 hectares of forested areas in the villages of Soghanah and Aqiba in the Sherawa district, which resulted in the burning of about a thousand olive trees. Villagers said that the source of the fire was shells fired by armed groups stationed in Tel Jebrin village in the countryside of Azaz.<\/p>\n

\nThe fires that broke out in the fields of the village of Kloteih in the district of Sherawa during the past week led to the death of a young man named Ahmad Sulaiman as he attempted to put out fires that broke out in the fields. The villagers accused the opposition groups stationed in the village of Burj Hayder, southern Afrin city, of being behind them.  <\/p>\n

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