With the start of the harvest season in northern and eastern Syria, the fire broke out in hundreds of barley and wheat fields.  So far, nearly 50 thousand acres of fields were set on fire.

With the beginning of the harvest season in northern and eastern Syria, hundreds of barley and wheat fields broke out. So far, nearly 50 thousand acres of land were set on fire.

In the fires, which have become one of the dirty methods of war, the people have suffered great economic losses and ecological balance in the region is deteriorating.

Images taken in the burnt fields show that many animals have been destroyed.

The YPG/PKK has set fire to public agricultural fields in Raqqa and Deir-Ez-Zor for the last 15 days. The people are guarding the lands against the organization.

Images show that a vehicle carrying the organization flag came to agricultural lands first.

In hidden and remote images taken by mobile phone, the car is waiting for a certain period of time.

Then, two members of the organization who came out of the vehicle, after checking around for a while, poured the burning material on the ground and set the field on fire.

The images show that the flames have grown in a short time. Two members of the organization then get in the car and leave the area.

The field, which set fire by the YPG/PKK elements, reportedly is located in the village of Ayn Arus, near Tal Abyad district and belongs to local civilians people.

In a recent statement by the United Nations, thousands of acres of agricultural lands were set on fire in the northwest of Syria.

UN drew attention that such attacks on food sources have become one of the methods of war.

Thousands of acres of crops have been destroyed in Syria’s Idlib and north Hama provinces amid ongoing deadly violence, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday, in a call to the warring parties to stop using food security to hold people “hostage”.

In a briefing to journalists in Geneva, WFP Spokesperson Hervé Verhoosel expressed alarm at the humanitarian crisis in the north-western opposition-held enclave, where a Government-led military operation escalated in late April.

His comments follow reports of aerial attacks on Monday that killed six civilians, the latest victims in more than eight years of war that have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, destroyed hospitals and forced millions to flee.

"The latest outbreak in violence in Idlib and north Hama has left dozens of casualties, burned several thousands of acres of crops and farmland, and forced at least 300,000 people to flee their homes," Mr. Verhoosel said, condemning the bloodshed.

As a result of the violence, farmers can no longer access their fields or tend to their crops at harvest time, the WFP spokesperson explained. “It is not acceptable to take one more time the civilian population, hostage,” he added. 

Asked to explain how the crop fires began, Mr. Verhoosel said that they were “clearly linked to the bombing; it’s very hot and dry for the moment, then if you have a bomb… a fire can start, but in some cases, it was also reported as intentionally started by a group”.

The conflict-related damage to crops in Syria’s north-west is distinct from field fires elsewhere in the country, such as in the governorates of Hassakeh, Deir-Ez-Zor, and Homs, where tinder-box conditions linked to high temperatures have affected around five percent of the national yield. (ILKHA)