Report Exposes Extortion and Violence in Syria’s Olive Heartland

Summary

Afrin, once a major olive oil pro­ducer in Syria, has seen its olive har­vests and pro­duc­tion dev­as­tated by extreme con­di­tions and wide­spread abuses tar­get­ing olive grow­ers and millers, includ­ing cor­rup­tion, vio­lence, and prop­erty seizures by mili­tias funded by Turkey. The sit­u­a­tion has led to a sig­nif­i­cant drop in olive oil pro­duc­tion, impact­ing the liveli­hoods of many Syrians and rais­ing con­cerns about the lack of account­abil­ity and pro­tec­tion for farm­ers in the region. The inter­na­tional com­mu­nity is being called upon to inter­vene to address the vio­la­tions and pro­tect the rights of Syrian peo­ple.

Extreme con­di­tions are dev­as­tat­ing olive har­vests and olive oil pro­duc­tion in Afrin, the north­west­ern Syrian region that once accounted for about one-third of the country’s out­put.

A new report by the non­govern­men­tal orga­ni­za­tion Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) reveals wide­spread abuses tar­get­ing Afrin’s olive grow­ers and millers in recent years. Those vio­la­tions, the group said, con­tinue dur­ing the sec­ond national olive cam­paign since the Syrian tran­si­tional gov­ern­ment was formed.

Dozens of wit­nesses inter­viewed by STJ described cor­rup­tion among mili­tias con­trol­ling parts of the region. Their accounts include prop­erty seizures, ille­gal levies, intim­i­da­tion, harass­ment and vio­lence — includ­ing tor­ture and sex­ual assault.

Farmers reported olive tree cut­tings as pun­ish­ment or revenge, arbi­trary arrests, and an atmos­phere of fear amid pop­u­la­tion dis­place­ment, weak infra­struc­ture and lim­ited gov­ern­ment pres­ence.

“In the region inhab­ited by a large major­ity of Kurdish peo­ple, those mili­tias were placed and funded by Turkey and were later absorbed into the Syrian National Army. They still main­tain close ties with Turkey,” Bassam Alahmad, STJ exec­u­tive direc­tor, told Olive Oil Times.

In January 2018, Turkish forces and allied mili­tias launched Operation Olive Branch, a mil­i­tary cam­paign involv­ing heavy airstrikes fol­lowed by a mas­sive ground assault on Afrin. Turkey viewed Syrian Kurdish polit­i­cal and armed groups as a direct secu­rity threat, asso­ci­at­ing them with the out­lawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and seek­ing to curb their influ­ence in the bor­der region.

The offen­sive dis­placed much of the Kurdish pop­u­la­tion, depriv­ing many of their liveli­hoods in an area once home to nearly 15 mil­lion olive trees — the back­bone of Afrin’s econ­omy. Before 2018, the region pro­duced approx­i­mately 45,000 tons of olive oil annu­ally. That pros­per­ity col­lapsed after the inva­sion, as Kurdish farm­ers were uprooted and mili­tias took con­trol of their land.

Olive oil pro­duc­tion is deeply woven into Syria’s agri­cul­tural, eco­nomic and cul­tural fab­ric. Before the civil war, Syria ranked among the world’s top five olive oil pro­duc­ers, with more than 80 mil­lion trees cov­er­ing much of the country’s Mediterranean and inland regions.

The sec­tor pro­vides liveli­hoods for over a mil­lion Syrians, from small fam­ily farm­ers to mill oper­a­tors and traders. Olive oil remains a sta­ple of the Syrian diet and a sym­bol of resilience, con­ti­nu­ity and con­nec­tion to the land despite years of con­flict and hard­ship.

Over the course of Syria’s 14-year civil war, roughly 90 per­cent of the pop­u­la­tion has fallen below the poverty line. In Afrin, many res­i­dents have fled due to vio­lence and inse­cu­rity. Those who remained faced extor­tion by armed groups who taxed every stage of olive pro­duc­tion — from tree own­er­ship to har­vest­ing and milling.

Militias have imposed levies on farm­ers and often seize large por­tions of olive oil as pay­ment. ​“There is no law pro­tect­ing farm­ers. What pre­vails is jun­gle law — the strong devour the weak,” said Sabah Jekar, a local coun­cil employee and landowner in Sari Ushaghi, who wit­nessed the con­fis­ca­tion of entire orchards.

“These fac­tions have weapons and use them to rob peo­ple by force. Some take 30 per­cent of the har­vest, oth­ers 40 per­cent or 60 per­cent, and some seize the entire crop. Their goal is to accu­mu­late wealth and deepen people’s poverty,” Jekar said.

Farmers are often com­pelled to deliver their olives to spe­cific mills under the super­vi­sion of the mili­tia. Sales are restricted to approved traders — typ­i­cally affil­i­ated with the mili­tias — who set prices far below mar­ket value. The oil is then trans­ported to Turkey, enter­ing national and inter­na­tional mar­kets through other chan­nels.

Selling to those traders is fre­quently the only way grow­ers can avoid con­fis­ca­tion or arrest. As a result, Afrin’s pro­duc­tion this sea­son is expected to remain very low. ​“Harvesting today in the region means being sub­jected to a lot of pres­sure. The area is far from sta­ble,” Alahmad said.

According to Abbas Hassan, a mem­ber of a local coun­cil in Afrin, mili­tias jus­tify their actions by claim­ing the pro­ceeds fund regional secu­rity and admin­is­tra­tion. ​“They say they guard the area and pre­vent loot­ing, but 95 per­cent of shops and busi­nesses have been con­fis­cated and are run unlaw­fully,” he told STJ.

Growers who resist demands are often pun­ished by hav­ing their trees destroyed. Meanwhile, in nearby regions such as Idlib, olive har­vests pro­ceed freely, Alahmad said.

“The cur­rent gov­ern­ment and the tem­po­rary author­i­ties could have stopped such vio­la­tions already. But it did not hap­pen,” he added. The STJ report doc­u­ments how these prac­tices vio­late the con­sti­tu­tional dec­la­ra­tion that defines the tran­si­tional government’s tem­po­rary frame­work.

“If we are speak­ing of hold­ing those peo­ple account­able, I do not see any will­ing­ness to do so,” Alahmad said. ​“I doubt there is any plan to pros­e­cute any­one besides the higher offi­cials of the Assad regime, espe­cially in regions such as Afrin.”

The NGO called on the United Nations and the inter­na­tional com­mu­nity to inter­vene. ​“There is no sign of pres­sure on the cur­rent gov­ern­ment. The U.S. and EU seem intent on giv­ing the tem­po­rary gov­ern­ment space — which means not con­fronting these issues,” Alahmad added.

“So, the ques­tion is not what the gov­ern­ment should do to stop the vio­la­tions, but whether they are will­ing to do it,” he said.

For the 2025 – 26 cam­paign, the Ministry of Agriculture in Damascus esti­mated a 45 per­cent drop in olive oil pro­duc­tion com­pared with the 122,000 tons pro­duced in 2024 – 25. The min­istry cited severe drought and recur­ring heat­waves across regions such as Idlib and Hama. About 85 per­cent of Syrian olive orchards are rain­fed and highly vul­ner­a­ble to cli­mate extremes.

In Afrin, cli­mate stress com­pounds inse­cu­rity. Some mili­tias have recently been rede­ployed to other areas, includ­ing Hama, Alahmad said. Yet reports indi­cate new human-rights vio­la­tions by armed groups there, echo­ing Afrin’s sit­u­a­tion.

Recent updates from Afrin also show con­tin­ued extor­tion and loot­ing of olive har­vests, with some mili­tias seiz­ing entire vil­lage crops and dam­ag­ing orchards.

“Any improve­ment seen in parts of Afrin does not come from polit­i­cal will to pro­tect Syrian cit­i­zens, but sim­ply because many mili­tias moved else­where,” Alahmad con­cluded. ​“There is still no sign the author­i­ties are step­ping up to defend farm­ers, minori­ties or women. We need this gov­ern­ment to take respon­si­bil­ity and pro­tect the rights of all Syrian peo­ple.”

For many Syrians, the olive tree remains a sym­bol of endurance, even as the groves of Afrin stand as reminders of a har­vest and a her­itage under siege.