Jihadists cut down 150-year-old oak in Syria
23 Nov AFP
Jihadists cut down a 150-year-old oak tree in Atme, on Syria's border
with Turkey, after they accused locals of worshipping it, a pro-jihadist
source said.
“Thank God almighty, the tree... aged more than 150 years has been
removed, after people were worshipping it instead of God,” said the
source via his Twitter account named “our call is our jihad”.
He also posted pictures of a man in a black mask using an electric
saw to cut down the tree. A black Al-Qaeda-style flag bearing the
Islamic profession of faith had been planted on top of the tree. The
jihadist sympathiser used the hashtag used by supporters of the jihadist
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
confirmed the tree had been cut down, adding that it stood next to an
ancient shrine in Atme.
After jihadists took over the shrine and prevented people from going
to pray there, prayers were held by the tree instead. The reports came
hours after ISIL took over the town of Atme in northwestern Syria's
Idlib on Thursday, according to the Observatory and a local rebel
source. ISIL “have taken over Atme... They have set up checkpoints
across the town,” said Abu Leila, a rebel from Idlib who was angered by
the capture.
He saw it as a strategic loss for mainstream opposition fighters,
many of who have been at loggerheads with the jihadists.
“Atme was oxygen for the (rebel) Free Syrian Army” fighting to topple
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, he told AFP.
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