The mokhtar of the village of Sariya in the Afrin countryside in northern Syria, Bashir Hamid Mohammad (63 years old), was seriously injured as a result of being subjected to direct gunfire while he was in one of the olive lands in the areas of “Korti Khanzira” and “Ard Akkari” within the village lands, on the afternoon of Wednesday, 26 November 2025.
The victim is the official mokhtar of the village of Sariya (Sari Oshaghi), 63 years old, and is one of the original residents of the predominantly Kurdish Afrin countryside.
According to testimonies of residents and local sources, the mokhtar Bashir Hamid Mohammad was accompanied by a number of village youths heading to the olive groves after suspicions arose about the presence of thieves in the area. While he was at the site, he encountered an armed group affiliated with the Mawali tribe who were stealing the olive harvest from the lands.
Witnesses who were with him reported that members of the armed group, affiliated with the “Mohammad al-Fateh” faction led by the person known as “Abu Bilal,” opened fire intensively and without any prior warning, resulting in him being hit by a bullet.
The mokhtar Bashir Hamid Mohammad was immediately transported to the Syrian Specialized Hospital in the city of Afrin (Efrîn), where he underwent urgent medical intervention and is still hospitalized in intensive care.
Field data indicate that the shooters are armed from the Mawali tribe, members of the “Mohammad al-Fateh” faction affiliated with the Turkish army.
This incident comes amid an escalation in the pace of violations and attacks witnessed in the Afrin region, especially during the olive harvest season, as incidents of theft and gunfire against civilians are repeatedly reported.
This incident also falls within a broader context of the ongoing cycle of violence in Afrin, which includes killing, abduction, torture, and the imposition of extortion, amid the absence of justice and accountability and the continuation of the state of security chaos, since Turkey’s occupation of the predominantly Kurdish Afrin region on 18 March 2018, which was accompanied by the displacement of more than 400,000 of its original Kurdish inhabitants.
