NORTH & EAST SYRIA: Deliberate set fires target agricultural lands
TAL TAMR, KHABUR, Syria – This Friday and Saturday, Turkish-back armed occupation factions intentionally set fire to agricultural lands in the villages of Tel Manakh, Rihaniyya and al-Faisaliah in the countryside of Tel Tamr, Khabur valley. In the countryside of al-Hasakah about 205 hectares of barley crops growing on agricultural lands in the town of Safiya were set afire. A spokesperson from the fire brigade stated Saturday that the fires were intentionally lit. Fortunately, fire trucks were able to reach the scene quickly and managed to extinguish the fires less than an hour after they broke out.
In a similar incident in the countryside of Aleppo, attacks by Turkish-affiliated militant factions caused fires of agricultural lands in the villages of al-Olashi, al-Bogaz and other villages east of al-Bab city. Al-Bab Military Council forces intervened with the support of locals to put out the fires in the area.
Repeating last year’s events, arson was and is a much used tactic by cells of the terrorist organization ISIS, targeting and burning large swathes of agricultural land in North and East Syria. Last year, the fires affected more than 6,000 thousand farmers, according to statistics of the Democratic Autonomous Administration (DAA). The DAA this year issued a campaign with a series of measures to prevent fires on agricultural lands, to help affected farmers and compensate them for their losses.