Afrin | Logging continues with permission of Turkish-backed factions

Aleppo Province – Syrian Observatory for Human Rights:

Turkish-backed factions continue committing and aiding the violations in areas of Turkish-held city of Afrin.

Displaced people from several Syrian governorates continue to cut down forests and trees in the village of Routanli in Ma’abatli district, after taking approval from the Turkish-backed “Samarkand” faction there.

Observatory sources added that the price of a kilo of firewood does not exceed 30 Syrian pounds, as Turkish forces prevented it from being transported to other areas or trafficked.

According to Observatory sources, the procedures for cutting dawn firewood and forests are the same in all areas of Afrin, where the area and public property are under the control of the faction operating in that area. 

In mid-March, the Syrian Observatory monitored the cutting down of a large number of trees in Al-Mahmoudiyah neighbourhood in central Afrin, as factions continued to cut down trees in various areas of the countryside.