Mystery crop fires scorch thousands of acres in Syria and Iraq — and ISIS claims responsibility

By Liz Sly June 7 at 2:04 PM

TAL ABTAKH, Syria — This was supposed to be the year the farmers of eastern Syria and Iraq bounced back. For the first time in a decade, neither war nor drought had intervened to deter what promised to be a bumper harvest. Fields of golden wheat rippled across the vast lands once ravaged by militant fighters, the most fertile area of the region that in centuries past served as the breadbasket of the known world.

Then came the mysterious crop fires — blamed on and claimed by the Islamic State, but perhaps not entirely the work of the militants.

Starting in early May, tens of thousands of acres of farmland have been burned across an expanse of territory stretching from the Iranian border in the east to near the Mediterranean coast in the west. The scorch marks across the landscape are visible from satellites. The plumes of smoke rising on the horizon recall the U.S.-led airstrikes that pummeled much of the area a few years ago.

The loss of income for farmers who have suffered years of deprivation and displacement heralds new misery and potentially new strife in communities that had hoped an end to war was in sight.

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