Illustrative image. Source: kurdistantv.net
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) denied their responsibility for the recent crops fires in northeastern Syria following the release of a video showing alleged fighters of the US-backed group setting a farm on fire in the region.
“Local people are not buying this childish propaganda attempt by Turkish trolls since the fighters of SDF are fighting fires alongside them. It’s not hard to predict who benefits from both these lies and the fires themselves,” Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the group, wrote on Twitter commenting on the video.
Bali went on to accuse the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) of staging the footage, claiming that the video was filmed near the town of Jarabulus in the Euphrates Shield (ES) area in northern Aleppo.
The video, which was released by opposition activists on June 11, shows two gunmen with a pick-up truck, carrying the SDF’s banner, starting a fire in a farm of wheat in an unspecified location.
While Bali didn’t provide any evidence to back its claims, opposition and even pro-government sources are still insisting that the SDF is using fires as a punishment for the farmers, who have refused to sell their crops to the SDF’s “self-administration” in northeastern Syria.
