Russian ‘siege’ chokes Syrian camp in shadow of US base
AMMAN: It was only when his children began to starve that Abdullah al-Amour decided the time had come to leave the sanctuary of Rukban camp with his family to face an uncertain fate back under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The cattle trader from Palmyra fled to Rukban on the Syrian border with Jordan and Iraq more than three years ago after his home was destroyed in Russian air strikes targeting areas that were held at the time by Islamic State.
Conditions at Rukban are tough, but it offers one big advantage to the 36,000 people sheltering there: protection from Russian air strikes and pro-Assad forces thanks to its location near a US base.
But in recent weeks life in the camp has gone from bad to near impossible. Food shortages have gotten worse as a result of a siege by government and Russian forces that want to see Rukban dismantled and US forces out of Syria, according to people in the camp.
“Today you eat. Tomorrow there is nothing to eat,” said Amour, 46, speaking to Reuters by phone from the camp. Amour says his son Hamza, three, has become frail from being fed sugared water instead of powdered milk.
Gravel and dirt are being added to dough to make flour supplies go further.
Local sources say Russian and Syrian government forces have choked off supplies to Rukban since mid-February, blocking access for smugglers who used to bribe their way through army checkpoints, and firing on some vehicles.
On Thursday, Washington urged Damascus and Moscow to allow international aid deliveries to Rukban and stop blocking commercial routes into the camp to “avert further suffering”.
As shortages have hit, a steady stream of people have crossed out of Rukban into government territory.
OCHA, the UN humanitarian agency, said around 7,000 had left in the last month or so. Some were in shelters in Homs city where some of the men were settling their status with the authorities, and others had gone to their areas of origin in Homs governorate. Relatives say the Homs city shelters amount to internment centres for many of the men.
Rukban camp is at the heart of a struggle between Russia and the United States for control of southeastern Syria and with it a land route to Iraq and Assad’s major regional ally, Iran.
Russia, whose military has helped Assad claw back control of much of Syria, views Rukban as a US pretext for maintaining its “illegal occupation in the south” and as a last pocket of anti-Assad rebels in southern Syria who must be wiped out.
The camp’s evacuation seems unlikely to lead the United States to abandon its nearby garrison at Tanf and the surrounding “deconfliction zone” that envelops Rukban: Tanf is seen as useful to US aims of countering Iran.
But Russia is still determined to see Rukban gone. This would represent a gain for Moscow in Syria as its military advances have ground to a halt in other parts of the country, and would assert its influence over a US-controlled area. — Reuters