afrinpost – exclusive
Armed groups and their families in Afrin are cutting down olive trees to sell their wood and deprive owners of their source of livelihood. This tactic is being used to pressure and displace them.
According to a report by afrinpost, militants from the “Hamza-Hamzat Brigade” militia recently cut down 22 fruitful olive trees in an unjust and partial manner in the Kalmasy area between the villages of Faqira and Arandeh in the Jindires district. Sixteen of these trees belonged to the Kurdish Yazidi citizen “Vindar Hasan Khalaf”, while the rest belonged to his uncle, Abdou Hasan Khalaf.
In Afrin city, settlers residing in a camp near the old garage are also cutting down olive trees from the fields surrounding the Afrin River, which belong to families like the Habash family and citizens Zakaria Mohammed Juma and Zakaria Juma.
The cutting down of these trees has a direct impact on the livelihoods of families who rely on them for income, especially those who own the trees. Olive trees are a valuable resource for the region and their destruction has serious consequences for the environment, the local economy, and the families who depend on them.
