Humanitarian crisis in NW Syria: 1,500,000 civilians displaced in three months…warring forces exploit and worsen IDP’s inhumane situation …and international community continues its shameful silence
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
March 2020
Recent days and weeks have seen significant increase in the number of the internally displaced people (IDPs) who fled military operations carried out by Russian-led regime forces and allies . In just three months, those operations have sparked one of the war’s worst humanitarian crisis, with over 1.5 million Syrian civilians have been displaced and made their way to the sealed Turkish border.
The number of IDPs from Aleppo and Idlib has increased since Mid-January to 575 thousand civilians, in light of the continued military operations by air and land; while the total number since the beginning of December increased to about one million and 5 thousand displaced people from Idlib and Aleppo.
The recent military operations by Russian-backed regime forces enabled the Syrian regime to recover 300 towns and villages within the so-called “Putin – Erdogan” area, in less than a year. Syrian civilians are the only victims of these operations which have been killing and displacing people and destroying properties.
Areas captured recently by the regime became unpopulated almost completely, only few civilians loyal to Al-Assad regime could return after the entry of regime forces. The original locals of these areas are living now in the open, while others just manage to get hold of primitive tents or uninhabitable places in areas on the border with Iskenderun region and Turkish-held areas in the north and north-western countryside of Aleppo like Azaz, Al-Bab, Jarabulus and Afrin.
Tens of thousands of IDPs have been suffering tough and dramatic humanitarian conditions because of being in a small and overpopulated area with acute shortage of basic necessities. Many of those IDPs are living in primitive tents and suffering from the bad weather and significant drop in temperatures,while the international community remains shamefully silenent, particularly when it comes to the Russian-Turkish agreements, which only claims the lives of many Syrians. Such agreements have done nothing but rendering the Syrian civilians refugees in their own country and in Turkey which exploits their case by using them as a bargaining chip, or leaving them in the open on Syria border with Iskenderun. Not to mention the humanitarian organizations’ inability to help such considerable numbers of IDPs whose only “crime” is rejecting the regime’s repression and call for dignity, justice and democracy.
Reliable sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory that “everyone is now concerned only with searching for a place to take shelter in order to escape the bitter cold and the military operations of the regime, and no one ever thinks about the high prices of the dollar or other matters that previously occupied them” Indeed, due to the Russian-Turkish agreements and military operations of the regime, hundreds of thousands of Syrians are waiting for an unknown fate within a small geographical spot.
The winter arrived as hundreds of thousands of civilians are displacing from the southern and eastern countryside of Idlib, at a time when almost no humanitarian organization is helping, leading to the spread of hundreds of random camps.
Volunteer groups are attempting to create temporary homes to become a destination for the displaced families and avoid tents.
It is also a job opportunity for many, a large proportion of the displaced people who are in a good financial situation are buying agricultural land, build houses, or buying ready-to-move-in houses in several towns of the Syrian north.
Deir Hassan is one of the most visited towns to which the displaced people who want to buy and own homes come.
As demand for homes and land is dramatically increasing, the price of land suitable for construction and housing increased dramatically with it, also house prices rose significantly.
Now the prices are beyond the purchasing power of a large proportion of the displaced families.
According to sources of the Syrian Observatory, the prices of land and houses in “Deir Hassan” town began to rise significantly in the last months of last year for several reasons, including the population density in the town, also many property owners of the houses and lands are exploiting the displaced people’s situation to raise prices significantly.
Also, a new phenomenon appeared, where these lands and houses are being traded by many of the crisis-dealers and other low-moral people, who buy large areas of land in addition to houses, then offer them for sale to the displaced families who want to buy them at a very high price, it may be up to twice the real price.
Deir Hassan town is witnessing an active construction business as thousands of people have fled towards it, because of its proximity to the border with Turkey.
Sources of the “Syrian Observatory” confirmed that there are areas inside “Deir Hassan” town close to commercial markets and population density; the price of a meter of land in is between 15 to 20 thousand Syrian pounds, while the agricultural land around the town and on its outskirts, the price of one meter of land is between five thousand and ten thousand Syrian pounds.
While the price of a two-room house is between $2,500 to $3,000. It is a rudimentary, roofless, and incomplete house, the price of such a house maybe twice that figure within the town.
This unacceptable rise for many displaced families made many of them resort to settling in tents on the outskirts of the town living in harsh living conditions, and at the same time, the displaced people now facing difficult choices: either buying a house at a high price, or buying and piece of land and building over it, but the most difficult option that many have suffered, is homelessness out in the open and in the worn-out tents and cold winter.
the catastrophic conditions in which the displaced people live are also among the factors that claim the lives of Syrians, as a father, mother and their two children were killed by suffocation inside their tent in the “Dia 3” camp near the town of “Kali” in Idlib countryside, due to the poor heating method used. According to the information obtained by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “the family of Muhammad Hamadeh, his wife Amoun Al-Saleem and his two children (Hoda and Hour), all of whom were displaced from (Kafr Roma) in southern Idlib countryside, died of suffocation after burning coal in an old fireplace in their tent that they received, because they couldn’t buy a fireplace”. Eyewitness sources said: “The fireplace was outside the tent during the night, but because of the severe cold, they entered it, so the four family members got suffocated inside the tent, a small place that had very little oxygen already. The family’s neighbors found their family after they suffocated. After their transfer to nearby medical points, it became clear that the cause of death was the gas from the heater. At the same time, a child died in the Afrin Hospital as a result of the tragic situation in which the displaced people live, where sources told the “Syrian Observatory” that “The father of the child brought her to Afrin Hospital thinking that she was suffering from a minor illness, as he walked out of his tent at 5 am and carried her for two hours in the bitter cold on the road, and when he arrived at the hospital, his daughter had died of frost, due to the fact that her father does not have any means of transportation”. Also, the Sarmada road starting from the western and southwestern countryside of Aleppo is very crowded due to the influx of the displaced, in light of the bad weather conditions in the area and the fact that temperature dropped to about zero.
Not only do the displaced suffer from the ravages of fighting and bad weather, but also the organizations that are supposed to work to help them only serve their personal interests, as the HTS-backed “Rescue Government” works to impose taxes and levies on humanitarian organizations in Idlib, by virtue of being dominant and influential. In light of the organizations’ need to continue its work, it falls under the authority of corruption in local councils as these organizations try to confront the tragedy of nearly 4 million citizens who live in very dire conditions. Dozens of organizations, if not hundreds, work in the areas of influence of the HTS, including global, emerging and intermediary organizations, where they engage in various health, relief and educational fields, but they only meet the needs of 10% of citizens, due to the widespread patronage and corruption, starting with local councils appointed by the “Rescue Government”.
Sources indicated to the Syrian Observatory that one of the organizations had not achieved its goal of supporting livestock, because it relied on forged documents. Local councils are working to put false names in their data to benefit members of the councils and workers with the Rescue Government. Most of those who benefit from this support are loyal to the HTS and jihadi organizations and loyal to the regime. As for the “government” institutions that tend to conclude huge deals with organizations, the “Rescue Government” gives them only two options. Either the acceptance that guarantees the continuation of the organization’s work in exchange fo handing over a large share of allocated resources, or rejection and thus depriving citizens of their full right to the support allocated.
With the worsening mass displacement and humanitarian crisis of Syrian civilians, the reaction of the international community is somewhat muted and does not match the gravity of the situation. While Turkey, “the guarantor”, is satisfied with the media statements and threats without actually doing anything to alter the situation on the ground, even though it has brought to Syria more than 7,000 Turkish soldiers and more than 2,000 trucks and military vehicles since the beginning of February. While ironically and tragically some of the displaced Syrians have been killed by Turkish gendarmes while trying to cross into Turkish territory to escape the regime’s brutal assaults and Russian airstrikes. In light of the breach of promises by the Turkish and Russian ‘guarantors’ regarding the “de-escalation” region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights calls on the international community to put pressure on both sides to not burden civilians with their military operations and protect them from the catastrophic conditions resulting from their military intervention in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also calls on the international organizations to intervene to save the Syrians from the scourge of displacement and the repercussions that the next stage may bring about, and to put in a place a robust mechanism to stop the rampant corruption that plagues humanitarian organizations and missions and control and ensure that aid is distributed fairly to those who need.
We, at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also call upon the international community not to give in to Erdogan’s threats and to interfere immediately to save the Syrians from the brutality of this ugly and protracted war, while no workable solution looms on the horizon still.