Sweida’s olive groves plundered amid alleged government collusion

Rural Sweida is witnessing widespread looting and theft targeting olive groves, crops, and properties of displaced residents mirroring what has been occurring in Turkish-occupied Afrin amid growing accusations of complicity by forces of the so-called Syrian Interim Government.

More than a hundred days after the massacres and military escalation that began in mid-July, residents report ongoing plunder and burning of homes in the northern and western countryside of Sweida. New violations are coming to light, including the systematic theft of agricultural produce.

According to witnesses and landowners, the theft of olives and the cutting of olive trees for firewood trade have become rampant across areas under the control of the Interim Government’s forces, particularly in the towns of Thaala, Mazraa, and Dour west of Sweida. These acts are reportedly carried out by figures affiliated with the government and backed by its military officers.

Sources confirmed that what is happening in the depopulated western countryside whose residents were either killed during the July attacks or displaced toward the city amounts to “a full-fledged war crime that demands urgent intervention.”
Witnesses say the looting, home demolitions, and even the deliberate filling of wells are taking place under the watch of Interim Government forces.

An audio recording circulating among Sweida residents further reveals the organized nature of these thefts, describing in detail how the looting of olive projects in western Sweida is conducted and which parties are involved.

According to the recording, olive-harvesting crews enter through the eastern Daraa countryside via the villages of Umm Walad, Busra al-Harir, and Izra to reach Dour, Mazraa, and Thaala in western Sweida, all under the control of the Interim Government. The operations are reportedly facilitated by an officer in Daraa’s security forces, Brig. Gen. Nizar al-Hariri.

In another video posted by a Bedouin firewood trader on his personal Facebook page to advertise wood for sale, individuals are seen cutting down fruit-bearing olive trees in western Sweida villages, allegedly to sell the wood in Daraa and Quneitra.

Local sources said they contacted the trader using a fake Facebook profile, posing as a buyer from Homs seeking large quantities of firewood. During the conversation, the trader disclosed the names of several villages where the trees were being felled among them Dama, Labin, Haran, and Taara in western Sweida.

The same wood traders were reportedly responsible two months ago for dismantling metal electricity pylons and removing doors and windows from abandoned houses in the same villages, later selling them in Daraa province.

The plight of Sweida’s displaced farmers mirrors that of those uprooted from Turkish-occupied regions such as Afrin, where residents continue to suffer from forced displacement, looting, and the uprooting of olive trees transported into Turkey.

Just days ago, the Afrin-Syria Human Rights Organization reported that settlers had stolen the olive harvest from more than 50 trees owned by three residents from rural Bilbileh in occupied Afrin.

ANHA