Al-Rokban camp in Desert, hunger and tragedy escalated by the rise of food prices, heating materials, and the lack of adequate medical and humanitarian services which claimed the lives of several of its inhabitants
The tragedy is still raging in Rokban camp in the far southeast of Syria on the Syrian – Jordanian border, and the deteriorating situation continues to decline even more for its inhabitants, who fled the hell of war to be absorbed by harshness of the desert, increasing their suffering, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the continued difficult living conditions, where the residents confirmed to the Syrian Observatory that this deterioration comes as a result of the rise of food prices in the camp and the difficulty of obtaining them in addition to the difficulty of the arriving to the camp, as a result of the weather and as a result of the clamp down by the regime which is preventing the arrival of food to the camp area, the Syrian Observatory also monitored the resentment of the people due to the poor medical situation, where there is no medical equipment or adequate medicines to treat the people, and Jordan prevents residents of the camp from moving to its territory for treatment, and in the middle of all this tragedy, the death found its way again to the souls of the Syrians, to be taken in a way that hundreds of Syrians have been killed with in the past years, in the capital Damascus, Rif Dimashq, and other Syrian areas, where the Syrian Observatory documented the deaths of 10 citizens since October 2018, including 4 children and 2 women, 3 of them have died since the aid arrived in early November including two children, amid information about the death of other people in different circumstances, but the Syrian Observatory was unable to document them in al-Rokban camp, which includes more than 60000 displaced people.
Local sources from the camp confirmed that al-Rokban camp is witnessing severe winds, in conjunction with the anticipation of a strong storm expected to hit the camp, and these tragic situations have come to increase in turn the prices of heating materials under a severe cold, where the price of one liter of diesel rose to about 600 Syrian pounds, and the price of one kilo of firewood rose to more than 100 Syrian pounds, in light of poor purchasing power among residents of the camp, due to the deterioration of their conditions, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 13th of January 2019 that several sources in al-Rokban camp for the displaced people in the Syrian desert on the Syrian-Jordanian border; denied to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights what was promoted about a displaced woman burning herself with her children in their tent in the camp, which includes tens of thousands of displaced people, because of what the rumor promoters claimed to be in protest against the lack of food for her and her children, and the sources confirmed that the fire broke out due to turning on a stove in the tent and a mistake was made which caused the fire in the tent, and burned the woman with her children badly, after which they were transferred to the Jordanian side for treatment, the Syrian Observatory published two days ago that the displaced people al-Rokban camp in the Syrian desert at the Syrian-Jordanian border renewed their refusal to negotiate to exit towards regime forces’-controlled areas, where a statement was issued by civil and military parties through the local administration of al-Rokban camp, demanding to be transferred to the Syrian north by the protection of the International Coalition, and refusing to negotiate their exit into areas controlled by the regime forces, at a time when the camp’s residents are living in dire and difficult conditions, and the Syrian Observatory has publishing 4 days ago that Al-Rokban camp located in the Syrian desert at the border with Jordan, is witnessing a continuous deterioration in humanitarian and health conditions, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the consequences of the sandstorm that hit the camp and the area yesterday, Sunday, where the storm has uprooted many of the tents that shelter the displaced people, and the displaced people started early in the morning trying to repair the tents so that the families do not stay out in the open, and the Syrian Observatory published within the last 24 hours that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the deterioration of humanitarian and health conditions in al-Rokban refugee camp, which includes tens of thousands of people, where the deterioration of the humanitarian situation came as a result of a sandstorm hitting the area, which is located in the Syrian desert near the Syrian – Jordanian border and close to the base of the International Coalition in al-Tanf area, and the deterioration of situation of more than 60 thousand of the camp’s residents of civilians and fighters, comes in conjunction with continuous negotiations about transferring those civilians and fighters wishing to go the Syrian north, following the death of more citizens due to the poor health and medical conditions, the most recent of which was what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 3rd of January 2018, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the death of child in al-Rokban camp in the far southeast of Syria, near the Syrian-Jordanian border, following suffering of a disease, where the family of the girl confirmed that they were not allowed to transfer her to Jordan, and the medical point in the camp was unable to provide treatment for her.
The , while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 24th of December 2018 that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights obtained information from several reliable sources that the forces of Maghawir al-Thawra operating in al-Tanf area and supported by the International Coalition, are preparing to be transferred to the Syrian north, along with civilians and fighters who rejected the “reconciliation and settlement with the regime”, the intersected sources confirmed for the Syrian Observatory that preparations are underway to transfer thousands towards the Syrian north, and the reasons for the transfer from the area is that the information the factions received, where these factions are supported by the International Coalition and located in al-Tanf area on the Syrian-Iraqi border, within the Syrian desert and in the Rokban camp for the displaced people which includes more than 60 thousand displaced people, these factions were informed to prepare to be transferred to the Syrian north, because of the intention of the United States of America to withdraw its forces from the area and east of Euphrates, following the decision of the US President to withdraw his forces of the Syrian territory.
This decision ignited the resentment in al-Rokban camp and the areas that are under the protection of the International Coalition within the Syrian desert, where the residents expressed their resentment and condemnation of the decision of the US President to withdraw, leaving them to face the fate of tens of thousands of Syrians who were killed either by bombing or under torture or by other means, after the regime forces took control of their areas, and the residents of al-Rokban camp for the displaced people hold the United States, its president, and forces responsible for their lives, if they were put at risk of being killed and detained by the regime forces, their allies, and the Russians, where those in charge of al-Rokban camp announced that they prepare for a sit-in tomorrow and that they will go towards al-Tanf base; to demand the International Coalition officials to find radical solutions for them, along with their complete rejection for carrying out “reconciliations and settlements” with the regime forces, and the Syrian Observatory published in the past 48 hours that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that factions of Ahmad al-‘Abdu and Jaysh al-Maghawir; which operate in the Syrian Desert in al-Rokban camp at the Syrian-Jordanian border, carried out a raid and arrested people on the outskirts of al-Rokban camp, where they arrested 16 people of the sleeper cells of the “Islamic State” organization, where the group used to enter and exit al-Rokban camp from time to time, and the Syrian Observatory published 2 days ago that the sleeper cells of different parties, notably the “Islamic State” organization, continue to operate within areas that used to be under their control, or in areas where there are displaced people used to be in its controlled areas earlier, of who were driven by circumstances to seek shelter and a safe place to live away of killing or death, but the cells operating in different areas of the Syrian territory are still seeking more chaos, instability, and to shed more blood of which hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been poured on the Syrian soil by all parties, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor the activity of more cells, this time, near International Coalition base in al-Tanf area in the Syrian desert, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights received a copy of a statement issued by the office of the security Forces of Ahmad al-Abdu who are located in al-Rokban camp area near la-Tanf base and the Syrian – Jordanian border.