Careless logging deforests northwest Syria
The forests of Aleppo are shrinking due to logging by armed militants and others.
Videos and photos circulating on social media show intensive logging in the forests of Maydanki and Sharan in Afrin in the northern countryside of Aleppo and Ariha in Idlib as activists accuse members of the opposition-affiliated Sultan Murad Division of cutting down the trees in northwest Syria.
Photos comparing the forests three years ago and today reveal devastating losses of trees.
A leader in the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army in Afrin told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that many opposition factions affiliated with the FSA practice organized logging with official approval by the leadership.
“Each faction allocates land where its members cut wood and sell it in the local markets at the beginning of each winter. The profits are then divided among the faction members. Some of the firewood is also sold to parties who smuggle it to the areas in northeastern Syria under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces or to Idlib, which is under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham,” he explained.
