As the presence of ISIS completely ends in the east of Euphrates, Manbij witnesses the arrest of a cell of about 30 people transporting relics from ISIS areas towards Turkey
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights obtained information from several reliable sources, confirming that a cell responsible for the transfer of tens of millions of dollars in antiquities and relics to the Turkish territory was arrested, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory: 28 people were arrested in Manbij area which is controlled by Manbij Military Council in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo, and reliable sources confirmed that the cell had antiquities and relics worth more than $50 million USD, and the sources added that the cell had brought them from the “Islamic State” organization’s-controlled areas earlier to smuggle them to the Turkish territory, where they were waiting for chance to smuggle them but the intelligence arrested them and transferred them to their centers for interrogation, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published previously that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights obtained information from several reliable sources that the looting of antiquities in Afrin area located in the northwestern sector of Aleppo continues, and it continues to ignite the resentment of residents of Afrin area and its displaced people, where some of them said: “they came with allegations of liberating Afrin and protect it, but its protector became its thieves.” Credible sources told the Syrian Observatory that a leader in al-Shami Islamic Corps close to the Turkish authorities is conducting archaeological excavations in the areas of Midanki and al-Nabi Hori, where they loot antiquities they find, amid intended turn-a-blind-eye by Turkey in letting the factions change the history of the area, after transforming its present and future, and its hundreds of thousands residents have become displaced in camps north of Aleppo, while their houses are being looted, robbed, and seized by factions of “Olive Branch” Operation Forces, which took control of Afrin at the end of the second third of March 2018.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 3rd of October 2018 that from violation to violation, and from looting to another, where the looting is becoming more of an erasing for the history of people of the area than looting, through pre-determined looting operations, in which the instigators work to achieve the goals of the demographic change and erasing history, as has happened in various Syrian areas, while the executors earn money from selling these antiquities and the material they find, which decreases the amount of antiquities day after the other; after allowing it by the military party which controls of the area, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring by video the theft and looting carried out by a military faction operating in Afrin area , and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: the 1st Corps of the National Army led by the Renegade Colonel defected of the regime forces Moataz Reslan, who working under the command of the Turkish authorities, where he deliberately stole antiquities from al-Nabi Hori Castle area, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was able to monitor the excavation, robbery, and looting which took place in the area in the northern countryside of Afrin near the Syrian – Turkish border, and the reliable sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory that commander of the Corps is the one overseeing the excavation and looting of antiquities, as part of a new episode in the looting series in the Syrian areas, where it is sold in the local and regional market and then transferred to other areas, as happened in Idlib Province and its surroundings during the past years by the factions controlling the area.
These thefts and looting of relics from al-Nabi Hori area in Afrin come after major violations in Afrin area against civilians, olive plantations, property of citizens, and infrastructure, where the Syrian Observatory monitored that the warplanes carried out several raids since Operation “Olive Branch” was launched on the 20th of January 2018, on 3 archeological sites, which are Deir Meshmesh area in the south-east of Afrin, Al-Nabi Hori area in the north-east of Afrin, and Ein Dara archeological area in the south of Afrin, and the strikes resulted in material damage in the areas of Deir Meshmesh and Al-Nabi Hori, and caused great destruction to Ein Dara area, and this intensive shelling on Afrin area which is semi-besieged, and the targeting of the archeological sites by the Turkish warplanes, caused rage among locals, who accused the Turkish forces of an attempt to eliminate the archeological sites that represent the civilizations in the area of Afrin.