Aleppo: Turkey Looting Afrin’s Artifacts, Archeological Monuments

Turkish teams equipped with excavation instruments are excavating for artifacts in Jandaris hills in Afrin region, the London-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR) quoted informed sources in Southwestern Afrin as saying.

The SOHR noted that the Turkish Army, meantime, has blocked all roads to the region, and said that another excavation operation is underway in Ma’abali region in Western Afrin and Ali Aisheh and Tal Zarafkeh regions.

This comes as plundering of civilians’ assets and abducting them as well as receiving heavy taxes by the Ankara-backed militants are still underway in Afrin.

In a relevant development on Thursday, the Syrian government announced that the terrorist groups have transferred thousands of artifacts from the country’s archeological sites to Turkey.

“A sum of 17,000 pieces of archeological works that had been stolen from Syria’s museums and archeological sites are presently in Turkey,” Syria’s director general for archeological monuments Mahmoud Hamoud said.

Hamoud reiterated that most of the stolen manuscripts had been stolen from Jobar Synagogue in Eastern Damascus and had been smuggled to Turkey from Eastern Ghouta.

This comes as the terrorist groups had smuggled thousands of artifacts from Syria to neighboring Turkey.

In a relevant development earlier this month, Arab media outlets reported that more than 142 families of ISIL commanders and foreign militants together with Syria’s historic monuments have been relocated to Turkey from Eastern Euphrates with the help of the US-backed Kurdish fighters and Ankara’s allied militants.

The Arabic-language al-Watan newspaper quoted dissident sources as saying that a network comprising tens of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Ankara-backed militants transferred the historic monuments as well as the ISIL commanders, terrorists and their families to Northern Aleppo and from there to Turkey.

The sources explained that over 142 families of the ISIL commanders and terrorists have been relocated to Turkey from Eastern Euphrates on military vehicles after paying cash up to $90,000.

Meantime, a number of Syrian militants and their families have also moved towards Idlib province.