Alwaght- The mercenaries backed by Turkey have continued their organized criminal practices against the Syrian heritage, as they began a new excavation process for antiquities "under direct Turkish intelligence supervision" in the vicinity of the occupied city of Afrin, north of Aleppo, according to Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
Local sources said that terrorists from the so-called “Al-Jaish Al-Watani”, affiliated with the Turkish forces, started again digging and bulldozing operations in search of antiquities in Tel Abush archaeological site near Kamaruk village, north of Afrin city, where they using modern equipment supplied by the Turkish occupation, which supports them in the area and directly supervises the excavations.
The sources indicated that the process of searching for and stealing antiquities in Afrin city is carried out systematically and managed by the Turkish intelligence, which controls terrorists in that region, in order to sell them to Turkish antiquities dealers for small prices, at a time when the Turkish occupation forces are seeking to control the artifacts that preserve the history of the region and its Syrian identity.
During the past years of the aggressive war on Syria, the terrorists, under the supervision of Turkish, American, and French archaeologists and excavators, have excavated archaeological sites and stole many antiquities in them.
The Syrian government has been fighting foreign-backed terrorist groups since 2011. It has regained much of territories lost to militants in the early stages of war.
Turkey is a key illegal actor in Syrian conflict and so far launched several operations inside the Arab country.
Ankara supports Idlib-based terrorists who are involved in a variety of crimes from antiquities to human body organs smuggling.