HTS members dig looking for relics and remove a hill in rural Aleppo

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that members of Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham; turned a hill in Aleppo countryside into a closed place digging for relics, and according to sources of the Syrian Observatory, Tal Nawaz, which is located near Kafr Naseh town in the western countryside of Aleppo, was turned into a place where excavation workers are camping in, where the soil was bulldozed through drilling machines and HTS prevented the people from approaching the area. Sources reported that members of Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham found treasures and relics in the area.

The Syrian Observatory noted in previous reports that the Islamic factions including the Turkestani Islamic Party and foreign members from the Russia, Chechen, and Uzbekistan, as well as members from the western countries of the Arab world and Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, have carried out excavations in several sites including the ancient Tal Dinit in Qminas area, areas in Jabal al-Zawiyah, and the eastern countryside of Idlib near Jarjanaz, al-Ghadfah, Tal Mardikh, Qalb Lawzah, Tal al-Qarqour and areas in the vicinity of Jisr al-Shughur city and Ishtabraq area.

The random excavations were not limited to the factions’ period of control in Idlib province, but were preceded by excavations by military and influential actors of the Syrian regime, where many of the contents of Maarrat al-Nu’man and Idlib museums were looted by officers of the regime forces and replaced with fake ones.