The Bashar Assad regime in Syria continues to confiscate the lands of those displaced by the country's more than decadelong war in northwest Idlib province, locals said Tuesday.

The regime's Agriculture Ministry seizes farmlands claiming it will cultivate the lands and reap the returns, the sources said.

"The lands offered for investment are the lands of ‘the hidden ones,'" local Al-Watan daily quoted Idlib Governor Thaer Salhab as saying.

He said the seized lands can be returned to displaced persons "when their status is settled by the regime."

Similarly, it was reported last year that Syrians forced from their homes are now shocked to discover that their family farms have been taken over by loyalists and cronies of the Assad regime.

Rights groups and legal experts said local authorities in parts of northwestern Syria recaptured by regime forces have staged auctions to effectively "confiscate" fertile land and punish opponents.

Idlib fell out of regime control in 2015. Regime forces, however, have managed to recapture dozens of villages and towns in the province since 2017, with Russian and Iranian support, despite the Astana agreements that define Idlib as part of a de-escalation zone.

Grappling with a deep economic crisis compounded by Western sanctions, Damascus is looking to make use of fertile land to boost agricultural production.

For years, the Assad regime has ignored the needs and safety of the Syrian people, only eyeing further gains of territory and crushing the opposition. With this aim, the regime has for years bombed vital facilities like schools, hospitals and residential areas, causing the displacement of almost half of the country’s population while adopting policies to make their lives more difficult.

Rights groups, including Amnesty International, have condemned the land expropriations in former opposition strongholds.