Displaced people from villages and towns of the last ISIS enclave east of Euphrates: tragic reality worsening with the harsh winter, diseases spread in the absence of health care and the lack of relief
With the sunrise and sunset of every day, the displaced people experience a much heavier tragedy than its predecessors, and with every winter, the situation is getting more catastrophic than ever, where the people living east of Euphrates are facing tragic situations, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored these situations, where the makeshift hastily built camps are including people of areas that still under the control of the “Islamic State” Organization, within its last enclave at the east banks of Euphrates River, which includes towns and villages of Hajin al-Sha’afah, al-Susah, Baghuz, Bobadran, al-Marashdah, al-Bukhatir, and al-Shajla, they live in camps located in the areas of al-Shuhayl, al-Attal, Sabha, Abriha , al-Hawayej, Thiban and al-Tayyana, and the Syrian Observatory monitored heavy rain in these areas in the recent days, especially al-Shuhayl, al-Hawayej, and al-Tayyana, which caused the drowning and destruction of tens of tents causing tragic situations for the displaced people, made them live out in the open or move to other tents of other displaced people, as a result of the devastation caused by the rains and the deteriorating weather conditions in the area as the winter comes, which threatens of a tragedy added to the series of tragedies experienced by people of these camps.
The local sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that these camps are suffering a tragic humanitarian situation: no medical care in the camps, severe shortage of services provided by the authorities and local councils responsible for and supervising these camps, which caused the spread of diseases among the displaced people, amid shortages of treatment and the absence of some of others, the sources also confirmed that these camps are witnessing a clear dissatisfaction by their residents, as a result of being manipulated by some of the authorities supervising the relief of these camps and providing assistance to them, where the locals completely refuse to being filmed by the media or to deliver their personal IDs to any entity, without these parties being serious in providing assistance, where the locals confirmed that they were exposed in previous situations for fraud, where they registered their personal data but no relief agencies returned.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 22nd of September 2018 that the displacement is the first result that appears with every new military action, it is also the last field case that is resolved, and the Syrian citizens are always the victims who go through the worst, as their calls of help are useless and the humanitarian bodies do not respond, and those who responds, offers only a little which is no enough for satisfying the hunger of such large number of displaced and homeless people in their country which turned from being a home for them, into a home of displacement, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored that hundreds of citizens have left the enclave that is controlled by the “Islamic State” organization, at the eastern banks of the Euphrates River, in addition to families of the organization, of those who managed to leave the same enclave, and they were transported to camps that have been sat up by the SDF and the International Coalition in Al-Bahra area, but local sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory, that the number of those coming to the camp is larger than the number of tents and than the presented facilities, which pushed the displaced people to stay in the open, starting a new episode of the displacement within Deir Ezzor province, as a result of the military operations in the province in the past 2 years whether in the east or the west of the Euphrates River, also intersected sources from several tents in the eastern and western countryside of Deir Ezzor, reported that the humanitarian, health and living conditions became poor, where the camps within the SDF-held areas are suffering from extreme lack of potable water and from spreading of diseases as a result of increasing the insects and disease vectors due to the polluted water and the extreme lack of services, they also suffer from the lack of health care, in addition to the extreme lack of healthcare centers, and the citizens complained via the SOHR about this negligence calling for improving their conditions in these camps, and presenting health and medical care for them, and for providing the services needed to help the residents live, and the displaced citizens also demanded the providing of alimentary aid and called on the relief, medical and humanitarian organizations to present aid for them in these camps that do not protect them from neither the cold winter nor the hot summer.
The Syrian Observatory published weeks ago, that al-Sha’fa crossing was opened along with the entry of aid and foodstuffs into ISIS enclave, and the displacement of tens of families of ISIS members, where the non-Syrians were relocated to camps under the control of the Syria Democratic Forces, while the Syrian families were allowed to go out towards other areas of Deir Ezzor Province, and the Syrian Observatory monitored in early September 2018, 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.
Pictures by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights show the tragic conditions in the eastern Euphrates camps, whose people are suffering neglect and severe shortage of medical, health, and relief services