Turkish occupation forces start agricultural fire near Tel Tamr, North and East Syria

TEL TAMR, North and East Syria — As temperatures warm and rainfall lessens, fires are again becoming an increased concern in North and East Syria. The problem is made worse by the routine artillery attacks of Turkey and its Syrian National Army (SNA) proxies.

In the latest incident, emergency committees in Tel Tamr, at the heart of the predominantly Syriac–Assyrian Khabur River Valley, managed to extinguish a fire that erupted in agricultural land near the village of Musalta, north of the city. The blaze originated from lands occupied by the SNA in the nearby village of Manakh along the contact lines. Given Turkey and the SNA’s strategic use of environmental degradation as a means of coercion, it is likely the fires were intentionally set.

According to reports from Tel Tamr’s emergency committees, the fire consumed an area of approximately ten dunams of agricultural land.

The committees stated that the SNA have been actively setting fire to agricultural lands in various villages under their control, including Manakh, Umm Shaifa, Qasimiya, Darbo, and Mahmoudiyah, stretching towards the road connecting Tel Tamr and Abu Rasyan (Zarkan).