Afrinpost
Islamic militias affiliated with the Turkish occupation and the Muslim Brotherhood have cut thousands of trees down in Al-Mahmoudiya forest in the city of Afrin, since the winter of last year, as only a few were spared from them.
North Press Agency obtained photos documenting the size of the cutting area in Al-Mahmoudiyah forest, where the trees were cut, logged and sold in other regions, and local sources from Afrin region indicated that the percentage of trees that were cut in the last period exceeded / 30 / percent across the region.
With the start of the new year, Islamic militias and settlers from their families cut down more than a thousand olive and pomegranate trees in the “Trinda / Al-Zarifa” village of the Afrin Center, and its property belongs to Sheikh Haydar and the Kurdish citizen Rashid Misto.
The Human Rights Organization in Afrin had documented in a report published on the sixteenth of last month, the occupation forces and their militia cut down more than 180 thousand olive trees and forest trees, in addition to cutting more than 300 rare and perennial trees and 15 thousand oak trees to trade with .
In an interview with “North Press Agency”, an agricultural engineer who defined himself as “Abu Mahyu”, who is a resident of Afrin, said that “the phenomenon of logging did not exist previously” in reference to the era of self-management, and Abu Mahyu explained that the phenomenon of Logging has spread in the presence of the occupation of the Turkish forces and their militias, “as a result of chaos and lack of accountability.”
During the past month, a group of the militia of the Sultan Murad Brigade in the Shara / Sharan district of Afrin province cut more than 40 olive trees owned by Abdel Hanan Ali, who is from the village of Matina / Matinli.
The agricultural engineer, “Abu Mahyou” said that the settlers with gunmen resorted to cutting pine trees for the purpose of heating or to trade with, as the Islamic militia affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood monopolized the responsibility of cutting trees in the region and selling wood to traders.
“Abu Jawad”, one of the workers in the field of selling firewood, said that most of those who sell wood are settlers, because the indigenous people of the area maintain and appreciate the trees, and they are satisfied with only the pruning.
Abu Bassam, one of those affected by the problem, said that the Muslim Brotherhood cut down 20 olive trees and a pomegranate in his land, that he “could not object to these people cutting down my trees for fear of hitting or accusing the charges, and I was unable to protect my trees that I took care of for more than thirty years.
Several villages in the “Bulbula / Bulbul” district of the countryside of Afrin, such as (Quta, Kutana, and Shengele), have witnessed similar cases of logging. Nearly 200 trees were cut in the vicinity of the village of “Jouqeh / Jwayq” in the “Mobata / Ma’batli” district, which is owned by Sheikh Fakhri a resident of the village, since mid-December
