The Turkish occupying forces in northern Syria have once again started to burn down crop fields with targeted artillery fire, employing a method for the systematic destruction of the local population's livelihoods.
The Turkish army and its jihadist mercenary troops have once again resorted to setting fire to grain fields in the autonomous region of North and East Syria through targeted shelling, thereby destroying the harvest. The Turkish state has been using this method systematically since the occupation of Afrin in March 2018 and the occupation of Serêkaniyê (Ras al-Ain) and Girê Spî (Tal Abyad) in October 2019 in order to starve and drive out the population.
Dozens of hectares of cultivated fields around Ain Issa were burnt down today after being bombarded with heavy artillery. Due to the ongoing attacks, the fire brigade is unable to extinguish the fires. In the town of Zirgan (Abu Rasen), fields have been shelled for two days from a mercenary base in the Turkish occupation zone and the fire cannot be extinguished here either.
Grain fields have been burning in the Afrin-Shehba Canton since the beginning of the week. On Thursday, fields in the vicinity of the villages of Aqîbê and Bênê were set on fire by mercenary troops from the nearby village of Basilê. The villages are located in the district of Sherawa, which is not fully occupied. In Basilê, jihadists have taken up residence in the houses of the displaced population.
