The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Shashabo Mountain, a relatively stable area lives poor situation without the support of relief and medical parties amid danger threatens future of a whole generation

Shashabo Mountain runs within a mountainous geographical area between the northwestern countryside of Hama and the southwestern countryside of Idlib, where the largest part of the mountain area is located in countryside of Hama Province up to 70%, and the remainder of is in the countryside of Idlib Province, and it is bordered from the south by Qal’aat al-Madiq city aka Afamia Castle, and over this mountain there are more than 20 small villages, including the villages of “Shahranaz, Shulin, Qarat Jern, Shir Mghar, Kawkaba, Jubb Suleiman, al-Bwayb, al-Dirona, Horta, Midan al-Ghazal”, and many other villages, and the population of this mountain is by about 50000 people of a clan character.

Villages of Shashabo Mountain have lived the war like other areas in Syria, the war that took place for several years, while most of the villages of this mountain have been shelled by the Syrian regime’s forces, and were targeted by air raids of its warplanes and helicopters, in addition to the ground bombardment by the checkpoints scattered in the northern and western countryside of Hama Province, such as al-Nahel checkpoint of in al-Suqaylabiyah area, while Shashabo Mountain lost hundreds of its people between fighters and civilians who were killed and wounded, in addition to the detainees during the years of the revolutionary movement, and as Astana Agreement takes place -which includes deployment of Turkish control points in the areas that are under the control of the armed opposition in the Syrian north- the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the establishment of a Turkish observation post in Shir Mghar village at Shashabo Mountain, on the 14th of May 2018, which significantly contributed in decreasing the shelling on villages of the mountain, also the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the lack of military presence of Syrian the rebel and Islamic factions of the opposition in Shashabo Mountain, where their presence is limited compared to the surrounding areas, because the area -according to local sources- is under a clan power which resolves the conflicts through clan customs and traditions, also no military faction has effective control and power over the mountain, and it is only a limited presence of factions such as Jaysh al-Nasser and the Islamic Movement of Ahrar al-Sham, also there is no extremist Islamic factions in the mountain such as Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, the Turkestani Islamic Party, Jund Al-Aqsa and other Islamic and “Jihadi” factions.

Civil institutions and facilities of local councils and schools all follow the interim Syrian government, and local sources confirmed for the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that the population of Shashabo mountain depends on rain-fed agriculture to earn their day, where there are vast areas dedicated to agriculture such as wheat, barley, peas, cumin, alfalfa, and other crops, residents asserted that they had previously earned abundant money and they live from their season until the next season comes, but with the continuation of the events and the high prices and the rise of dollar; in addition to the poverty of all inhabitants of this mountain, many people used to leave such cultivation and replace it with fruit trees such as figs, pistachios, and olives, because of the high prices and costs of the rainfed agriculture which is more than the capacity of farmers, such as the costs of ploughing, sowing, fertilizer, and workers’ wages, and because of the fact that planting trees does not cost a lot of money, only the price of the tree and a few tankers of water in the first period only, yet, the season of these trees will not be ready for the herds until after several years, which is another dilemma facing the population in terms of living, with no alternative for another work other than agriculture, ass it is a profession inherited by generations, also the livestock breeding is the second as the source of income the population in Shashabo Mountain are depends on, where this occupation has suffered a deterioration during the current period, due to the high prices of cattle of cows and sheep, and the high price of the barley and fodder because of the increase in the exchange of the US dollar, also residents confirmed to the Syrian Observatory that livestock breeding almost disappeared during these years, as a result of the conditions that had passed from shelling and displacement, which made livestock breeding undesirable to many merchants, considering that it needs continuous and special care.

From a medical standpoint; the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the lack of medical centers or hospital in Shashabo mountain, to meet the needs of the population and receiving emergency cases, so most of the mountain’s population are forced to go to distant towns, such as in Jabal al-Zawiyah towns in the southern countryside of Idlib Province or Qal’aat al-Madiq town to receive the necessary treatment, also Shashabo Mountain lacks pharmacies that can serve the large mountain area.
The service situation in Shashabo Mountain: the Syrian Observatory monitored that the entire mountain villages are suffering from a significant lack in this aspect, where the mountain does not have enough drinking water, where water has been cut for almost 5 years, and the inhabitants of the mountain purchase water by tankers at great costs form some water well owners, which are also considered in small numbers and not enough to cover the needs of the population, while the electricity is little less damaged, where the electricity arrives for several hours a day, forcing many residents to use electricity generators which use fuel or batteries charged when there is electricity, and the villages of Shashabo Mountain are suffering from the spread of waste remarkably, which contributed to the spread of many diseases especially the infectious ones among children.

Regarding the educational situation, Syrian teachers told the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirming that most schools in Shashabo Mountain suffer poor medical and service situation and insufficient support to carry out the educational process easily, where most of the schools in the mountain have been bombed in the past years, leaving a great destruction in the construction of the schools. And in every winter season all schools suffer from a significant shortage of fuel to operate the heaters for students to avoid the extreme cold, not to mention the seats, blackboards, and other necessary tools in each school, where each school needs to be provided with new educational tools, because the existing ones are old or they have been damaged due to the events that have passed, considering that many schools used to be safe havens on which the displaced people depended, those who fled from the hell of the aerial bombardment on their villages at Sahl al-Ghab near Shashabo Mountain in the southwestern countryside of Hama, and the schools in Shashabo Mountain in general administratively follows the Directorate of Free Education in the Syrian interim government, yet the possibilities in schools are considered weak, and with all the difficult conditions that the educational side in Shashabo Mountain has been experiencing; cases of school dropouts have recently been observed in large numbers at all levels of schooling, especially children at the elementary and middle schools, as this phenomenon comes as a result of several factors such as the need for children to work, because they lost their breadwinner of their families, or because of the poverty that prevents them from learning given the financial costs involved in the process, which is particularly alarming in the future, and may produce an illiterate generation, in addition to the spread of employment among children and their loss of their own future.

We in the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, carry the appeal of people of Shashabo Mountain, which is suffering from difficult humanitarian and living conditions, in the absence of humanitarian, medical, and educational organizations, to provide support to this area, while other Syrian areas are witnessing the support through supplying all sectors with material or logistic support, Shashabo Mountain continues to experience deteriorating conditions at all levels, with no refuge for the people in the light of the current situation, and in the Syrian Observatory calls the concerned authorities to stand up to the situation in Shashabo Mountain, as the relative stability of the area requires those who claim to provide support and assistance to the Syrian people to provide it, especially in the health and education aspects as well as the living aspect, like the rest of the Syrian areas, whose people are trying to revive them again under international and regional agreements which claim to be seeking stability in Syria.