‘CATASTROPHE’ LOOMS IN SYRIAN CAMP
▶ First delivery of aid to Rukban in months may do little to help thousands of civilians facing hunger and disease
Thousands of displaced Syrians stranded in a camp near the Jordanian border received their first delivery of aid since January yesterday, as conditions there were described as a humanitarian catastrophe.
The UN said it was delivering food as well as sanitation and hygiene supplies plus offering health services to 50,000 people. Rukban is under rebel control and the aid operation is expected to last for four days.
“We are also conducting an emergency vaccination campaign to protect about 10,000 children against measles, polio and other deadly diseases,” said Ali Al Zaatari, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Syria.
Civilians in Rukban were running out of food and water after President Bashar Al Assad’s regime closed routes leading to the camp, preventing aid deliveries and relief workers from getting there.
Residents told The National that the shipments were delivered to the camp but the situation was deteriorating.
“There are no words to describe and explain how catastrophic the conditions are inside the camp, especially as the weather is getting colder,” said Emad Ali, who has been living there for the past year.
“Rukban lacks everything. There needs to be consistency in these deliveries and we worry whether the aid will reach everyone,” Mr Ali said.
An aid convoy was to arrive on October 27 but was postponed owing to logistical and security issues. More than 70 lorries are to ferry in 10,000 food parcels and bags of flour, as well as clothes for 18,000 children, the Red Crescent said.
The aid includes newborn kits for 1,200 infants plus medicine and nutritional supplements for minors and women.
Despite the delivery, officials and health workers fear that hunger and disease are on the rise in the camp.
To receive basic health services, residents have to cross into Jordan, through a border that has been largely closed since 2016.
In October, a four-month-old girl died of blood poisoning and dehydration, and a fiveday-old boy lost his life to infection and severe malnutrition, according to Unicef, the UN’s children agency.
“Four people have died, including a 20-year-old girl who suffered from anaemia. The doctors in the camp gave her the authority to be treated at the Unicef medical clinic on the Jordanian side. However, she was denied entry and died on her way back to the camp,” Mr Al Zaatari said.
The camp is in an area under the control of militias, US forces and the Free Syrian Army.
It lies within a 55-kilometre so-called deconfliction zone set up by the Pentagon to block Iranian supply routes and prevent pro-regime forces from operating there.
On Friday, the US military said Mr Al Assad’s ally Russia had again refused to support the delivery of UN aid from Damascus to Rukban despite American guarantees of security.
“This is the latest episode of a malicious campaign by Russia and the Assad regime to muddle ground truth and hinder humanitarian operations,” said US Central Command spokesman Bill Urban.
Syrian people began to arrive at the camp in 2015 after fleeing areas of the country that fell under the control of ISIS. The militant group captured large amounts of Syrian territory amid the turmoil of the civil war that began in 2011.
Washington also welcomed the news that the UN was at last able to begin delivering aid to the camp.
“We recognise the tireless, courageous efforts of the humanitarian workers who are undertaking these operations.
“We hope this delivery lays the foundation for sustained rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to Rukban and all areas in need throughout Syria,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.