afrinpost – Exclusive
Our reporter in Afrin monitored large-scale logging operations of the coniferous forests surrounding the village of Mistika in Shiyeh/Sheikh Al-Hadid district, by an armed group affiliated with the Turkish-backed “Al-Jabha Al-Shamiya” militia that controls the village.
The reporter noted that the logging operations began on Wednesday, August 31, and are still continuing today.
Yesterday, Friday, our reporter monitored the removal of tree trunks by members of the Turkish-supported “Sultan Murad” militia in the forest of the pines in Al-Zaydiyah neighborhood in Afrin.
The pace of logging operations in coniferous and woodland forests has increased, in the last month, threatening the vegetation cover in the occupied region of Afrin with permanent extinction, with the lack of effectiveness of accountability mechanisms, since it is the militias that carry out the illegal logging on a large scale and protect the IDPs who do the same.
Entire forests have disappeared as a result of this operations, especially the forests around Lake Maidanki and the rest of the areas of Shara district, as well as many forests in Jindires district, and the coniferous forest above the city of Afrin, which was completely cut down by the pro-Ankara militants.
Observers believe that the operations to eliminate vegetation cover are carried out in an organized and systematic manner and under the supervision of the Turkish intelligence, which plans to change the identity of Afrin, amid fears of plans to build more settlements in the place of those forests.
