Jihadists Chop Down 150-Year-Old Tree In Syria

Atme has been a Free Syrian Army (FSA) stronghold fighting Bashar al-Assad's forces for a while, but jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant (ISIL) have just taken control. This does not sit well with local FSA fighters, like Abu Leila ,who want nothing to do with the jihadists, but seem at a loss to prevent the inevitable takeovers that are happening in rebel held regions of Syria.

According to Leila ISIL:

“have taken over Atme... They have set up checkpoints across the town." [snip] "Atme was oxygen for the (rebel) Free Syrian Army. ”  Atme was being used  “as an entry point for everything from weapons to food, and as an exit point for the wounded” into Turkey’s hospitals, said Abu Leila.

And wherever the jihadists go they bring their supreme ignorance with them.

There was a a 150-year-old oak tree standing next to an ancient shrine in Atme, a Syria/Turkey border town.  Because jihadists don't like shrines, they took over the site and stopped people from worshipping there.  When that happened the locals started praying next to the tree, so the jihadists chopped it down claiming the people were worshipping the tree.

According to a pro-jihadist source:

“Thank God almighty, the tree... aged more than 150 years has been removed, after people were worshipping it instead of God,” said the source on Thursday 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.

Such stupidity on so many levels.