afrinpost – Exclusive
After circulating pictures and scenes of logging in the forests of Afrin, strict instruction was issued to prevent logging and forestry, and assigning armed men to monitor the forests. However, the Turkish-backed militias continue to uproot trees in the forests of Jindires, implementing the orders of the Turkish authorities, which required removing forests from the area and concealing their tracks.
Our reporter stated that “Muhannad Abdul-Hadi Fathallah”, deputy leader of the Turkish-supported “Samarkand” militia, attempted on Friday 16/9/2022 to bring a load of firewood on a motorcycle, but the gunman named “Ahmed al-Khatib” from Idlib countryside, who is assigned by the security of the village of Kafr Safra to monitor the bushes, stopped him as well as arrested and severely beat him.
The incident led to tension between the two parties, as there were clashes with gunfire, which made the so-called “Khatib” flee to Jindires, but the militia leadership lured him to the security headquarters in Kafr Safra village, took his weapon, and beat and humiliate him, the reporter said.
The reporter added that the so-called “Musa Taqiqa”, the leader of the “Ahsem Martyrs’ Scribes” militia affiliated with the “Samarkand” militia, was assigned to erect a security barrier west of the cemetery of the martyr “Sido”, with the aim of preventing armed groups and IDPs from logging for the benefit of the so-called “Abu Hamza and Zakour Addery”.
In a related context, the so-called “Thaer Abdel-Ghani Maarouf”, the leader of the “Samarkand” militia, sold all the pine forests extending from the village of Haj Hasana – Dafa Yul area – to the IDPs close to them, namely: “Abu Hamza al-Shami” who resides in the village Deir Blou, “Zakkour Al-Diri” from Deir Jamal.
The random logging is still going on today, where the logs are shipped by large Isuzu trucks, at a rate of four shipments per day to the markets of Jindires, Afrin and Idlib, in full view of the Turkish authorities and their security and military barriers.
It is reported that the illegal logging operations completely destroyed and cleared the land in all the forests surrounding the village of Hajj Hasanli – Jindires district.
It is worth noting that the Turkish authorities have circulated an order to the militias controlling those villages in the region to remove all forests, and to completely hide the traces of cutting, by uprooting the logs from the lands and turning them into agricultural land to invest and get benefit, according to our special sources.
