The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Al-Mayadin city suffers from poor living and health reality, the domination of varied-nationality militias and their sharing of the city, royalties, trafficking in the detainees in return for ransoms, and continuous looting

Deir Ezzor Province – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: Al-Mayadin city, which used to be taken by the “Islamic State” organization as the “Capital of al-Khair State”, during its control over the area before the regime forces, the Iranian forces and the armed militiamen loyal to them of Syrian, Arab and Asian nationalities took the control of the area and most of the west of the Euphrates, is suffering from difficult humanitarian, health and living conditions, as there are no services, development in services, or processes of re-qualifying and rebuilding provided for the city, in which and as the regime continues to hold its control over it, neither the city nor its countryside witnessed improvements, where the members of the regime forces and their allies are still imposing their domination over the area, this domination which prevented the city and its residents from rearranging their living and material matters, and which went too far in dominating the military, security, economic and even living pillars of the city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the situation in Al-Mayadin city, which is located in the west of the Euphrates River, in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, and local sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory that the city and its countryside are suffering from poor health, living and humanitarian conditions, where the citizens suffer from a rise in the food prices and the lack of aid presented to the area, which is seized by the members of the regime forces and gunmen loyal to them of the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Afghani and Iranian militiamen, Liwa al-Quds, National Defense Forces (NDF), and the Military Security Shield Forces, as well as the Republican Guard forces and the 4th Division, in addition to the hard health conditions, where the locals complained about the lack of specialized health centers and the lack of specialized cadres, which forced the residents, in the relief cases, to travel about 50 km towards Deir Ezzor city, in order to reach a medical center or a hospital, also the diseases increased as a result of the polluted water where the residents are obliged to drink from the polluted water of the Euphrates River, with the lack of purification or water treatment stations, the SOHR also monitored the spread of garbage in the city and its vicinity, which caused the emergence of some diseases such as Leishmaniasis and Diarrhea, especially in children.

The reliable sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory that the rise of the prices foodstuffs came as a result of the fact that the regime forces impose royalties on the merchants, those who carry goods and all of those traveling from and to the city even those who pass through it, where royalties that reached to 50% of the total value of the goods, is imposed over the cars, vehicles and persons, the sources confirmed that this matter pushed the merchants to raise the food prices, in order to collect the royalties they paid, from the citizens and residents who are located in the area, where variation in the prices of the stuffs was noticed between the controlled areas of the regime forces and gunmen loyal to them in the west of the Euphrates River, and between the controlled areas of the Syria Democratic Forces in the east of the Euphrates, according to what the sources of the SOHR have monitored, where the percentage of the difference in the value of the sold stuffs reached from 30% to 100%, the regime forces also imposed fees and royalties over those who travel via the river crossing between the eastern and the western banks of the Euphrates River, while the locals attributed the reason behind the water pollution which is accompanied by the interruption of electricity, to the thefts which the purification or water treatment stations were subjected to, and the thefts of the stations which are responsible for providing the area with electricity, during the military operation witnessed in the city and after the regime forces hold their control, which caused interruption of electricity and lack of potable water.

On the other hand, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities, turned to share their influence inside Al-Mayadin city and in its vicinity, where each military party seized a part in the city, and took the houses of the residents and displaced people, as places to live in, while the regime forces are also trafficking in the detainees, through fabricating accusations of “financing terrorism and dealing with terrorists”, to collect the largest possible sums of money in return for releasing the detainees, which reached in some cases 8 million Syrian Pounds, and the SOHR monitored several cases in which merchants were arrested in the city, where millions of Syrian Pounds have been paid in return for releasing them, and these sums of money have been paid to influential security parties.

This domination by the regime forces and their allies, sharing the influence inside the city, imposing taxes and royalties, the lack of services in the area, the satisfaction of showing the city as “the city that defeated the terrorism” instead of spotting the lights on the deteriorating services reality and trying to improve them by the regime forces, which pushed some residents to displace again from the city, all of that were enough to be a cover of the looting and thefts which are being carried out by the regime forces and their allies of the property of the citizens and the publics and private property, where processes of looting of the houses’ doors, windows, whole furniture and contents, cattle and other things, took place amid local, regional and international silence, to an area whose sin is that the “Islamic State” organization controlled it for years, and still carries out attacks on its desert and vicinity.