Until 16 months ago, Ahmed Saleh, a farmer in the Homs province in central Syria, had acres of land growing wheat. Every summer, he used to have an abundant harvest. Not any more. Saleh's land is now lying idle, due to attacks from forces and militias loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Since al-Assad's government started a crackdown in March 2011 to quell a pro-democracy revolt, Saleh and hundreds of Syrian farmers have seen their land torched as part of what the opposition calls the "scorched earth policy." Saleh, 35, originally from the Talbissa area in Homs, is currently living with his family in the central region of al-Kussair with relatives. He says he has no job now.
"I left Talbissa after they burnt my land, because I know this regime will stop at nothing to take revenge," he said. "They are out to kill and punish the people who dared said 'No' to their master (al-Assad)," Saleh, a former history teacher, told dpa by phone.
Officials at the Syrian Agriculture Ministry deny claims that the government is involved in destroying farm lands. They have accused "terrorist gangs" of setting fields ablaze to intimidate the local farmers, and to tarnish the regime's image. Syria's state media have estimated damage caused by "terrorist attacks" against cultivated lands and agricultural facilities at 450 million Syrian pounds (about 7.8 million US dollars). Twenty-five agricultural institutions have been destroyed since the Syrian uprising started, according to state media. Agriculture is the largest sector in the Syrian economy.
Syrians like Saleh dismiss the government statements as "baseless and fabricated to cover up their crimes." "The regime forces are torching the fields on purpose to starve the people with the sole aim of staying in power," Saleh said. "They even massacre women and children for this aim," he claimed, referring to an alleged massacre in the central Hama province this week.
Opposition activists have reported that more than 100 people were killed Wednesday by paramilitaries loyal to al-Assad in the villages of Al Qubair and Maarazaf in Hama. If confirmed, the mass killings would be the second in two weeks. More than 100 people, mainly children, were summarily executed in the central Syrian town of Houla on May 25.
The government blames such killings on what it calls "terrorist gangs." Saleh compares the situation in Syria to Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge who ruled from 1975 to 1979 when as many as 2.2 million people died from execution, disease, starvation and overwork.
"At that time, executions in Cambodia accounted for about 30-50 per cent of the death toll. Count now the killings in Syria," he argued. "The Khmer Rouge killed women, children, intellectuals, doctors, etc. They eliminated almost everyone whom they considered against them," he said. "Similarly, al-Assad wants all of us to say 'Yes'. When we said 'No', he started slaughtering us. Now he is burning our crops to starve us to death," Saleh said.
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