The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Illegal excavation | Turkish-backed factions continue to bulldoze archaeological sites and hills in Afrin

As Turkish-backed factions operating under the banner of “National Army” continue illegal excavations of antiquities in Afrin area northwest of Aleppo, reliable sources have informed Syrian Observatory that Turkish-backed factions have been bulldozing with heavy machinery the archaeological “Tel Laq” in Sharan district since Turkish forces and factions loyal to them took control of Afrin in 2018.

“Acropolis hill” and its surrounding areas had also been sabotaged and damaged, and forest trees and fruit-bearing trees had been cut down with the aim of searching for relics and antiquities.

On February 12, the members of “National Army” bulldozed Al-Sultan archaeological hill with bulldozers and heavy machinery in search of relics and buried treasures, SOHR activists reported.

The hill is located two kilometres close to Al-Maabatli district.

The site is known as Tel Al-Sultan Baraboush, which is registered at the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums in resolution 244/A 1981 as an archaeological hill on its western foot is a religious shrine for Alawites

The archaeological hill, like other archaeological hills in Afrin, was constantly dug up and vandalized for four years with heavy machinery, destroying the archaeological layers and destroying the archaeological relics and architectural installations, as well as uprooting many trees that surrounded the religious shrine.