Syrians trapped inside desert camp did not get aid, despite UN claims that supplies were given to all
Some Syrian civilians trapped in a desert camp near the Jordanian border did not receive humanitarian supplies from a recent delivery, a UN official told The National, despite earlier claims that everyone was given aid.
A 78-lorry convoy reached Rukban, which has as many as 50,000 people, in the first week of November for the first time since January.
“The convoy was able to reach and deliver supplies, food, health items, sanitary items, water purification, and health items for all of the population for at least a month,” UN humanitarian aid official Jan Egeland said.
But UN information officer Fadwa Baroud told The National that not everyone was able to get help.
“The UN received reports from some families in Rukban that they did not receive the full amount of assistance they were entitled to or did not receive assistance at all,” Ms Baroud said.
The organisation is following up with the local relief committee in the camp, Ms Baroud said. The UN said another delivery was planned for halfway through next month.
Mr Egeland claimed the aid is enough for the next 30 days but the assistance has provided only short respite. Without regular and uninterrupted access, the plight of residents will worsen as winter sets in.
Russian Health Ministry spokesman Sergei Grabchak on Friday said more than 100 people died in the Rukban camp over the past month because of poor hygienic conditions and lack of medical help.
Residents of the camp said they began to run out of food only days after it was delivered.
“The situation is still devastating even after the delivery of relief. We are running out of supplies,” Emad Ahmed said.
Mr Ahmed said the delivery only covered six days for a family of five.
Inside the camp, residents helped with the entry of the aid convoys and the work of the UN and Red Crescent teams.
“However, some armed groups were present inside the camp holding weapons,” Ms Baroud said.
Yury Tarasov, the Russian representative to the task forces on ceasefires and humanitarian issues in Geneva, said on Friday that there were 6,000 militants in the camp, mostly from the US-backed Maghawir Al Thawra rebel group.
“The whole responsibility for the outrageous situation in Rukban rests with the US, as it occupies the territory illegally and it uses the humanitarian problems of the refugee camp to legitimise its military presence in the south of Syria,” Mr Tarasov told Russian and Syrian committees examining the issue of returning Syrian refugees.
Mr Egeland said there were several thousand armed men in the camp and at least six armed groups, with one larger militia controlling Rukban’s inner perimeter.
The UN is calling for international support to ensure continued and safe access to the camp so that assistance can reach civilians there, he said.
The camp lies within a 55-kilometre de-confliction zone set up by the Pentagon to block Iranian supply routes through the area into Syria, and to prevent pro-regime forces from operating there.
The Syrian government and its ally Russia blamed US troops stationed nearby for failing to provide security for aid shipments. The US denies this.
Jordan closed the border amid security concerns after a deadly attack there by ISIS in 2016.
Amman suspects the camp has been infiltrated by ISIS sleeper cells.
On Thursday, Jordan said it was in talks with the US and Russia to empty the camp.
According to Ms Baroud, several thousand people have managed to leave the camp by using smugglers.