SNA Seizes Olive Harvest from Kurdish Farmers in Afrin

Militias from the Syrian National Army (SNA), which is affiliated with the Turkish-backed Syrian Interim Government (SIG), continue to encroach on olive orchards and steal their harvest in some villages in Afrin, in western rural Aleppo.

These militias, who share control over Afrin, reached an informal agreement among themselves in late 2019 to manage and organise these land infringements, several sources told The Syria Report. Under this agreement, the raids are not limited to vacant properties owned by forcibly displaced individuals believed to be loyal to the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), but also include land still inhabited by Kurdish owners within the region.

In 2018, Turkish-backed opposition factions took control of the entire Afrin region as part of Operation Olive Branch, forcibly displacing many residents – most of whom were Kurdish – perpetrating housing, land, and property rights violations. Over 100,000 forcibly displaced persons from rural Damascus, Homs, and Aleppo were resettled in Afrin, with many occupying the homes of displaced Kurds.

There are three types of lands in Afrin affected by the SNA’s militias encroachment.

The first category includes lands whose owners still reside in the region, but who have been compelled to pay the controlling militia a fee for each tree, whether small or large, for “protection.” They are also forced to press their olive harvest at mills owned by the militia’s economic office within the sector of its control. Nevertheless, parts of these lands have still been subjected to organised theft. In some cases, such as in the village of Qarzihil near Afrin city, entire harvests were stolen, leaving residents with insufficient supplies of oil and olives for personal use.

In October, groups from the Northern Hawks militia harvested around 200 sacks of olives from 400 olive trees in the village of Ras Al-Ahmar, in the Bulbul sub-district of Afrin. After pressing, this would yield approximately 300 16-kilogram cans of oil. These groups, numbering dozens of fighters, moved at night across olive groves in the village, selecting the most productive 10 to 20 trees from each plot. Notably, the owners of these lands had already paid the militia a “protection fee” supposedly to safeguard their property.

In the village of Omar Ushaghi, administratively part of the Rajo sub-district, some families managed to protect their land after paying the Al-Muntasir Billah militia’s economic office USD 9 per tree. This means that the owner of a land with 100 olive trees was required to pay USD 900 to prevent trespassing on his land. The militia also forced farmers to press their olive harvest exclusively at mills operated by the militia’s economic office within its area of influence and to adhere to its pricing. Residents are barred from taking their olive produce outside the militia’s control zone to be pressed at other mills.

In October, the militias decided to restrict olive pressing to mills managed by their economic offices or close affiliates, each within its own sector of control. The economic office of the militia takes a 10 percent share of the oil as a pressing fee, which is higher than in other parts of rural Aleppo, where the rate is between 6 and 7 percent.

The olive pressing industry in Afrin has spurred other trades, such as soap production and the creation of olive pomace (a fuel source). In some villages and sub-districts of Afrin, these industries have expanded, with revenues going to the economic offices of the militias. Certain militias seized olive presses with soap and pomace production lines when they took control of Afrin in 2018, while others set up new presses equipped with these production lines.

This pattern has been repeated in the villages of Kamarok and Arab Sheikho, located in the Maabatli sub-district of Afrin. The economic office head of the Northern Hawks militia prohibited residents from taking their olive harvest outside these villages, forcing them to press it at the Kamarok’s militia-run olive press. He warned that any attempt to press olives elsewhere would lead to the confiscation of their entire harvest.

The second type of affected land includes vacant properties owned by Kurdish individuals living abroad or in Turkey (meaning they are not accused of being affiliated with the PYD) who have given their relatives a power of attorney  to manage their land. These agents paid the militias controlling the area fees per tree for protection and an additional “seasonal tax” during the olive harvest. Despite these payments, the militias’ economic offices have nullified many of these powers of attorney on various pretexts, leading to the agents losing the entire harvest, which the militias then collected. Some agents managed to bribe the militias, paying over 30 percent of their crop to secure what remained.

For example, the Al-Muntasir Billah militia, affiliated with the SNA, revoked the rights of relatives who had received powers of attorney from absentee landowners in the villages of Sariyah, Omar Ushaghi, Rahmaniyah, and Hamorlik, granting close associates the right to exploit these lands. A prominent contractor, Sido, brought in hundreds of workers to harvest olives on these lands, including neighbouring lands owned by local residents. Additionally, organised theft was carried out by militia groups at night, targeting areas close to their positions around these villages.

On October 15, dozens of elderly men and women gathered in the villages of Sariyah and Rahmaniyah to protest against the theft of olives from their lands. They went to the economic office of the Al-Muntasir Billah militia, but a security force from the militia dispersed the protesters by firing randomly, aiming to intimidate them and force them to leave. A similar incident in Maabatli district.

The third category includes vacant lands owned by forcibly displaced Kurds who are accused of affiliation with the PYD and have relocated to areas under the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) or government control. The entire olive harvest from these lands has been confiscated. This type of confiscation is widespread in Afrin.

Hundreds of families accused of affiliation or cooperation with the PYD have been displaced to the Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud districts in Aleppo or to the Sardam and Fafin camps in Shahba and Tal Rifaat in northern rural Aleppo. The SNA militias have taken control of these families’ assets, including agricultural land, houses, and properties. None of these individuals can grant power of attorney to relatives to manage their land.