A mysterious wave of fires, blamed on the Islamic State, have been burning large swaths of Syrian and Iraqi cropland, destroying a rare bumper crop and threatening to impoverish the rural populations. (Alice Martins for The Washington Post)
By Liz Sly June 7
TAL ABTAKH, Syria — This was supposed to be the year the farmers of eastern Syria and Iraq bounced back. For the first time in a decade, neither war nor drought had intervened to deter what promised to be a bumper harvest. Fields of golden wheat rippled across the vast lands once ravaged by militant fighters, the most fertile area of the region that in centuries past served as the breadbasket of the known world.
Then came the mysterious crop fires — blamed on and claimed by the Islamic State, but perhaps not entirely the work of the militants.
Starting in early May, tens of thousands of acres of farmland have been burned across an expanse of territory stretching from the Iranian border in the east to near the Mediterranean coast in the west. The scorch marks across the landscape are visible from satellites. The plumes of smoke rising on the horizon recall the U.S.-led airstrikes that pummeled much of the area a few years ago.
The loss of income for farmers who have suffered years of deprivation and displacement heralds new misery and potentially new strife in communities that had hoped an end to war was in sight.
“The whole family, 24 people, was just waiting for the harvest to come and now it’s gone,” said Mohammed Abbas al-Jaghjagh, 75, an Arab farmer in the hamlet of Tal Abtakh, near the Syrian town of Tal Hamis, who had lost his crops in a fire the day before. Outside, his blackened fields stretched for as far as the eye could see. “It’s been 10 years since we had a harvest as good as this, and now we’ve got nothing.”
The fires come as a reminder that the Islamic State retains the capacity to cause mayhem with seemingly little effort, exploiting the unresolved grievances and disputes that contributed to its emergence — and could yet help it rise again.
The Islamic State asserted responsibility for the earliest of the fires and urged its followers to ignite more. “The harvest season is still long, and we tell the soldiers of the Caliphate: you have before you millions of dunams of land planted with wheat and barley, which are owned by apostates,” said the statement published by the Islamic State’s al-Naba newsletter, according to a translation by the SITE monitoring service, exhorting supporters to set more fires.
Mohammed Abbas al-Jaghjagh and some members of his family pose for a portrait in their home in Tal Abtakh, Syria. (Alice Martins for The Washington Post)
The Jaghjagh family also raises sheep, which they are now unable to feed because their crops were burned. (Alice Martins for The Washington Post)
An orgy of burning followed. Since the fires began, 20,000 acres of wheat and barley have been incinerated in Syria, while in Iraq, fires have broken out across 134,000 acres of land, with 20,000 acres of crops lost, according to figures issued last week by authorities in each country.
Many of the fires are almost certainly the work of the Islamic State, or ISIS, in keeping with the scorched-earth strategy the group adopted after it began to lose territory, said Peter Schwartzstein, a fellow at the Center for Climate and Security.
“They are a means of keeping the countryside unstable and ripe for it to operate,” he said. “The rationale is: If we can’t have this land, neither can anyone else.”
Few, however, believe the Islamic State is responsible for all the burnings, he said. “A chunk of it is almost certainly others piggybacking on the phenomenon. It looks as if these ISIS-related fires have provided a useful foil for others to pursue their goals.”
In both Syria and Iraq, these are areas where land has changed hands multiple times in recent decades, creating disputes over ownership that are hard to untangle. The Baathist regimes of Syria’s Assad family and former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein settled Arabs on Kurdish lands. Kurds displaced Arabs during the wars of this century. The Islamic State’s rampage ejected Kurds, whose lands were taken over by Arabs. The defeat of the militants saw Kurds return and Arabs leave again.
There are also rivalries between Arabs who supported the Islamic State and those who did not. People on all sides who have returned have planted crops on the lands of those who are displaced, detained or dead. The Islamic State’s claim potentially provides cover for anyone wishing to exact revenge or deny land use to their rivals.
Wheat fields close to harvest time in the countryside of Syria’s Hasakah province. (Alice Martins for The Washington Post)
Burned wheat fields in the countryside of Hasakah province. (Alice Martins for The Washington Post)
The military defeat of the militants has meanwhile brought no political solutions to the bigger question of who should govern these long-disputed areas. Grievances fester, and blame has been leveled among all players in the conflicts.
Arabs and Kurds have accused one another both in Syria and Iraq. Some fires in Iraq have been set in areas far from the traditional Arab-Kurdish land disputes, drawing allegations that Iran was behind them in a bid to force Iraq to buy Iranian wheat.
In Syria, the suspicions are complicated by a new policy adopted in the northeast by the self-proclaimed Kurdish administration there — and pushed by the United States — to prevent wheat from being sold to areas held by the Syrian government. This gives the government, also, an incentive to burn crops, said Salman Barudo, who heads the Kurdish administration’s agriculture committee.
“We cannot say the regime and ISIS are working together, but they share the same interest in not seeing the success of this area,” he said.
Insert YouTube of embedded VIDEO -
Satellite images from May and June appear to show that Syrian airstrikes are deliberately targeting food sources in Idlib, the country's last rebel stronghold. (Joyce Lee, William Neff/The Washington Post)
A separate set of fires that have burned crops in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province has been attributed by the United Nations to fighting between rebels and government forces, who are waging an offensive to reclaim the area. Videos released by government opponents have shown phosphorous shells fired by loyalist forces exploding in wheat fields, and the rebels have accused the government of deliberately seeking to destroy crops in opposition areas.
Some Syrian opposition figures have blamed the Syrian Kurds for the burnings, alleging that they are seeking to punish Arabs who supported either the Islamic State or, in an earlier phase, the Kurds’ Syrian rebel foes.
The most likely culprit in Syria is the Islamic State, although other explanations are possible, said Nicholas Heras, who studies the region at the Center for a New American Security. “At this point in time the most logical aspect of the burning of wheat fields is that ISIS is using it as a tactic to punish its enemies,” he said.
At least some of the fires may also have been triggered by the unusually hot weather, with temperatures surpassing levels not normally reached before the harvest, which is just now beginning. But government officials and experts say there are way too many to be explained by natural causes.
What is certain is that the fires are newly impoverishing the farmers whose crops have been lost.
The women of the Jaghjagh family wept as they greeted journalists late last month. Scorched fields lay all around, some still smoldering from the blaze that had destroyed nearly 2,500 acres of crops, including the 75 acres they had planted. “We lost everything,” sobbed Maha Jaghjagh, one of Jaghjagh’s wives.
The Jaghjagh family has been devastated by the fires, which burned 75 acres of crops they had planted. (Alice Martins for The Washington Post)
The Jaghjagh family had been waiting for the money they expected to earn from their wheat harvest to repair their home. (Alice Martins for The Washington Post)
Inside, farmer Jaghjagh sat stoically on the floor surrounded by grandchildren and visitors from his extended family. “It’s like a funeral,” he said.
“To see the fire coming at you from five kilometers away and you can do nothing,” he added. “We just took our children and our animals and we ran.”
He was reluctant to apportion blame. The issue is sensitive for everyone in the area, which has changed hands three times in the past four years — from the Syrian government to the Islamic State and now to the Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. Many people found themselves on the wrong side of the fight and have suffered as a consequence.
“We can’t say who is doing it,” he said. “Is it Arabs? We can’t say. Is it Kurds? We can’t say. Is it the government? We can’t say. Is it Turkey? We can’t say. Is it foreigners? We can’t say. There are many enemies, and we have no proof.”
Burned wheat fields in the countryside of Hasakah province. (Alice Martins for The Washington Post)
Idlib ‘double tap’ air strike Russia says never was
"Killing of 4 Americans in Syria throws spotlight on Trump’s policy "
VIDEO
From the video: Allegedly more than 7,000 airstrikes on Idlib province since Russia and the Syrian government launched an assault to take it in April 2019. Some 9 months. Roughly 26 airstrikes every day. Nearly 3 million civilians are still in Idlib. 10,000s of rebels and jihadists in the province, but investigators have not found evidence of a military presence around the target. By listening to pilots and deciphering codes a network of secret plane trackers in Idlib monitor the movement of warplanes in the sky, and warn 100,000s of civilians that planes are on the way. Locals believe the evidence suggests it was a Russian plane. Russia denies responsibility, and says there have been attacks on Hmeimim airbase, from which it is alleged the Russian plane that attacked the market came, with over a 100 killed.
An investigation by BBC News Arabic has found evidence of a war crime committed in a missile attack in Idlib in Syria which killed 39 people.
The attack used a technique called “double tap” - when an initial airstrike is followed by a second attack by the same plane, killing rescuers trying to help the injured.
Russia is backing Syria’s government as it tries to recapture the region from rebels and jihadists.
Producer Nader Ibrahim has been investigating what happened and who may be responsible. Nawal Al Maghafi reports.
Correction 1 October 2019: After reviewing the film we have amended the graphic at 2.26 as the camera lens, which was showing the position of an eyewitness, should have been one block south.
The northern Syrian province of Idlib is the last remaining stronghold controlled by forces opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.
Syrian government forces, backed by their Russian allies, have stepped up bombardment of the rebel-held territory.
According to the UN, nearly 300 people have died in Idlib province and more than 300,000 people have been displaced since the escalation of violence in May.
Russia and Syria have accused groups controlling the area of violating the ceasefire agreement and carrying out attacks against civilians and military positions.
In September last year, Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed to extend a ceasefire across north-west Syria and impose a 30km (18.6 mile) buffer zone between opposing forces.
Who controls Idlib?
Idlib has been controlled by a number of rival factions, rather than a single group, since it fell to the opposition in 2015.
The main armed groups operating there are:
* Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, a jihadist alliance)
* National Liberation Front (Turkish-backed rebel alliance)
* Hurras al-Din (pro-al-Qaeda HTS offshoot)
* Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP, Chinese Uighur-dominated jihadist group)
In January 2019, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an alliance of jihadists groups, launched a large-scale offensive against rival rebel groups in the area.
HTS has now become one of the strongest militant groups in northern Syria. It largely controls Idlib province, including the provincial capital and the border crossing with Turkey at Bab al-Hawa.
HTS is the latest incarnation of al-Nusra Front, which was al-Qaeda's official affiliate in Syria.
In 2016, al-Nusra Front declared that it had severed formal ties with the al-Qaeda network and renamed itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.
The following year, it merged with several small jihadist groups fighting in Syria and formed HTS.
Although HTS insists it is independent and not linked to an external entity, the UN, US and Turkey consider it a group associated with al-Qaeda and list it as a terrorist organisation.
Although independent analysts are cautious about making estimates, Charles Lister, of the US-based Middle East Institute, says he believes HTS has roughly 15,000 full-time fighters, and several thousand more civilian employees.
"Beyond HTS, Idlib is also home to at least a dozen other jihadist groups, most of whom remain more openly loyal to al-Qaeda - they probably command a rough total of 7,500 more men at arms," he says.
Syrian government supporters say the numbers are significantly higher.
Pro-government MP, Fares Shehabi, told BBC Reality Check that currently there are as many as 100,000 HTS fighters in Idlib.
He believes HTS is affiliated to al-Qaeda despite its denials. "They carry al-Qaeda flags, they practise al-Qaeda methods," he said
HTS is the most powerful group in the only remaining area still held by rebels in Syria Getty Images
Other groups
The other significant force is the National Liberation Front (NLF), which was formed in 2018 by rebel factions wanting to counter HTS.
It is a Turkish-backed alliance that includes hardline Islamist groups like Ahrar al-Sham, as well as several groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army - a force considered more "moderate" by Western powers.
Earlier this year, NLF lost most of the area under its control in northern Syria to HTS after fighting broke out between the two groups. NLF reached an agreement recognising the HTS-backed administration, and since then the two groups have been fighting together against recent Syrian government assaults.
Aron Lund, a fellow with the US-based research group The Century Foundation, says the NLF is held together by Turkish leadership, as well as Turkish money, weapons and supplies.
"The NLF will stand or fall with Turkey's involvement in Syria," he says.
There are other groups as well.
One is Hurras al-Din (Guardians of Religion), a splinter group from HTS that is widely believed to be al-Qaeda's new affiliate in Syria.
Hurras al-Din is largely made up of HTS defectors and the two groups have so far found it difficult to set aside their differences and work together beyond occasional, limited collaboration.
Idlib is the last rebel stronghold - if re-taken it would effectively signal the opposition's defeat. AFP
Foreign militants
There are also many foreign jihadists in Idlib, many of whom are fighting for groups associated with al-Qaeda.
The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) is a group of Uighur fighters, who mostly fight alongside HTS.
The Uighurs - a Muslim ethnic minority primarily based in China's Xinjiang province - established a presence in northern Syria in the early years of the civil war.
There are also the predominantly-Uzbek Tawhid and Jihad Brigade, which is aligned with HTS, and the Imam al-Bukhari Brigade.
"We believe there are about 30-40,000 foreign fighters mainly Uighur, Tajik, Uzbek, Turks, and others from 103 nationalities - many with their migrated families," says Syrian MP Fares Shehabi.
But Raffaello Pantucci, of the UK-based security think tank the Royal United Services Institute, believes this number is too high.
"They and their families may not number more than several thousand," he says.
There are also believed to be other foreign jihadists in Idlib, including Chechens and Uzbeks, although the numbers are likely to be smaller.
Civilians trapped in Idlib
A major concern now is for the civilians living in Idlib.
The UN estimates it is home to 3 million people, including 1 million children.
More than 40% of these come from other areas previously held by opposition forces.
UN officials say as many as 800,000 people could be displaced by a full-scale offensive on the province, and that the number of people needing aid in Syria - currently two million - could increase dramatically.
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