Afrinpost
The Antiquities Directorate of “Afrin” published two reports this week, in which it shed light on the acts of razing and sabotage carried out by the Turkish occupation authorities and their Islamic militias known as “the Syrian National Army against two archaeological sites in the occupied Afrin region in northern Syria.
Tal Khaleh:
According to the Directorate, the archaeological site of Tal Khaleh was subjected to sabotage excavations after the occupation of the region, specifically in the second half of 2019, as satellite images for the years 2018 and the first half of 2019 show the archaeological hill intact without any excavations on its surface. The satellite images captured on 9/28/2019 show that the hill was exposed to sabotage excavations by heavy machinery that destroyed the slope of the hill (the Acropolis), as the area excavated up to the date of the 9/28/2019 space image is estimated at about 4500 square meters.
The archaeological hill is located north of Afrin city center, about 3 km away, on the right bank of the Afrin River, and administratively it belongs to the village of Tal Tawil, adjacent to the city of Afrin from the northern end, and it is one of the hills registered in the restrictions of the Syrian Antiquities Directorate according to Resolution 244 / issued by the Syrian Ministry of Culture in 1981.
The archaeological hill of Iska:
In a separate report, the Antiquities Directorate said that the archaeological hill of Iska / Iskan was also subjected to excavation and sabotage work by the Turkish occupation authorities and the Islamic militias affiliated with them, noting that the site was subjected to encroachment and digging with heavy machinery in the second half of 2019, specifically in the recent period. Between 7/14/2019 and 9/28/2019, according to the satellite images, where the satellite image of 7/14/2019 indicates that there were no excavations on the surface of the hill, while the satellite image dated 9/28/2019 indicates the emergence of large sabotage excavations On the surface of the archaeological hill and its complete destruction by heavy machinery, where the area of the sabotage excavations is estimated at (15,000) square meters until the date (9/28/2019).
The hill is located in the plain sandwiched between the villages of Iskan, Jalmeh and Ghazawiya on the left bank of the Afrin River, about 18 km away from Afrin city center to the north of it, and it is administratively affiliated with the Iskan village, and it is one of the hills registered in the restrictions of the Syrian Antiquities Directorate according to Resolution (244 / A) Issued by the Ministry of Culture in 1981.
It is noteworthy that the Turkish occupation authorities have brought in special teams equipped with advanced equipment that roam the region, with the aim of searching in the hills, sites and archaeological sites for historical burials and treasures within the framework of a systematic plan to eliminate the cultural, civilization and historical identity of the occupied Kurdish region.
