AL QAHTANIYAH, Syria, June 6, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Holding a weapon in one hand
and fixing her scarf with the other, Yasmine Youssef patrols one of northeast
Syria's vast wheatfields, a vital source of income in the country's
breadbasket.

The 42-year-old is among dozens of volunteers, some of them women, helping
the semi-autonomous Kurdish-led region protect the fields near Qahtaniyah,
from fires and arsonists.

"Our mission is to serve farmers and protect their crops," Youssef said,
adding that the work lasts one or two months.

"If fires break out we are notified directly and we call the fire trucks,"
she told AFP.

This year the farmers in northeast Syria are expecting an exceptional harvest
after heavy rain followed years of drought.

But residents also fear that yearly summer wildfires could destroy their
precious crops.

"Agricultural production rebounded in 2023 amid improved weather conditions"
after near-historical lows the year before, according to a recent World Bank
report.

"Official statistics indicate a doubled wheat harvest for 2023, yielding two
million metric tons," it said.

In June 2019, flames swept through wheatfields in the region, killing at
least 10 people who were fighting the fires, according to the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.

At first, "people didn't trust our efforts. They were saying, 'What are those
women doing?'," Youssef said.

"Now everyone agrees on the need to unite to protect" the land, she said.

"The people depend entirely on this harvest... If we lose it, our conditions
will deteriorate."

- A strategic asset -

Nearby, farmers toiled in the scorching heat, ploughing the golden fields as
Kurdish police also patrolled the area.

c, providing bread for people who live in the area.

Every year, the administration and the Syrian government, which accuses the
Kurds of separatism, compete to buy the wheat harvest from farmers.

Residents and officials in the Kurdish-held region told AFP they believed the
fires were often the result of arson.

Islamic State group extremists have previously burnt crops in areas under
Kurdish control, after the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces -- the Kurds'
de facto army in the area -- dislodged the jihadists from the last scraps of
Syrian territory they held in 2019.

Volunteer Renkin Hassan, 50, urged people not to discard cigarettes that
could start fires accidentally, but also blamed unspecified parties for
"burning the land intentionally".

"We will not let them do that," she said defiantly, patrolling beside other
armed volunteers and wearing a military vest.

"I don't own a single acre of land, but I come here every day so farmers can
harvest their crops" without having to worry about fires, she added.

There have already been limited outbreaks of fire in several locations this
year, local authorities said.

The volunteers brave high summer temperatures and sometimes surprise attacks
by IS jihadists, as well as Turkish strikes targeting the SDF.

Sporting an assault rifle, flip-flops and a flowery dress, Atia Hassan, 50,
said her goal was to prevent arsonists from "burning the land -- and to
protect ourselves".

"People are happy when they see us... and we are proud of our efforts despite
all the difficulties," she added.