afrinpost – Special
The Turkish occupation authorities continue the excavation work in the archaeological hill of “Du Deri”, which is located in the vicinity of the village of Mydanki / Sharan, using heavy machinery, within the framework of its plan to erase the civilization, cultural and historical identity of the occupied Afrin region in northern Syria.
According to “afrinpost” sources, armed men from the “Jaish al-Nukhba/ Elite Army and Failaq al-Sham” militia since the beginning of last summer, bulldozing the archaeological hill, by heavy bulldozers under Turkish supervision, as a Turkish vehicle (Turkish officers traveling by) is returning to the site of the hill during the period of work at the site .
The sources confirmed that the dredging work began at the beginning of last summer 2020, and led to the lifting of the curtain on stone stairs leading to an arched building inside the hill, while the sweeping works are still underway, after intermittent stops.
According to the report of the Directorate of Antiquities of Afrin, the hill was subjected to large excavations with heavy machinery during the period of the Turkish occupation. In the images of the archaeological hill after the Turkish occupation authorities and the militias affiliated with it conducted the illegal sabotage excavations, the Du Deri hill appears completely excavated in a primitive and barbaric manner and the excavations extend to the vicinity of the hill in the low city among the olive trees, and it seems that the picture was taken from the southern end of the hill, during the olive harvest season, where at the bottom of the picture a group of people harvesting olives appears.
This information is completely identical to the satellite image of 9/28/2019, as the archaeological hill appears to have been completely destroyed and the trees that covered its surface disappeared, and the area excavated on the foot of the high hill (the Acropolis) is estimated at (9000) square meters except for the areas on the slope of the hill and the neighboring lands within the low city, for which no information is available about its size, nor about the nature of the materials and artifacts that were extracted from the hill after these sabotage excavations.
It is noteworthy that the sweeping and digging activities affected most of the hills and archaeological sites in Afrin region, and they are carried out by the Muslim Brotherhood militia under the direct supervision of the Turkish occupation authorities, who provide them with the necessary machinery and equipment.
