The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

In 24 hours, about 25000 civilian families displace due to the increased air and ground bombardment and shelling and the military operations south Idlib

Activists of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored a new displacement of about 25000 civilian families, from the eastern towns and villages of Maarrat al-Nu’man and areas in the southeastern countryside Idlib; towards areas north of Idlib and safer areas due to the escalation of military operations of airstrikes by Russian warplanes and regime’s warplanes south of Idlib, in addition to their fear from the escalation of the military operations in the area, , thus, it rose to 725 thousands, the number of civilians who have been forced to displace from their cities, towns and villages in the “de-escalation” area since the end of April 2019.

The Syrian Observatory published yesterday that repercussions of the military operations of the Syrian regime and its Russian ally within “Putin – Erdogan” area continue to cast a shadow on the situation of the Syrian civilians, the biggest losers in the Syrian war, where the displacement of civilians continues in the southern and southeastern countryside of Idlib, due to the hysterical shelling through which the Syrian regime and the Russian “guarantor” deliberately forcing the citizens to displace, where the Syrian Observatory monitored the displacement of tens of thousands of civilians since the collapse of the ceasefire on the 5th of August 2019, and the start of the large-scale military operation by the regime forces in the northern countryside of Hama and the southern countryside of Idlib, which in turn raises to about 700000, the number of civilians who have been forced to displace from their towns, cities, and villages in the “de-escalation” area since the end of April 2019.

After the southern and southeastern countryside of Idlib were destination for the displaced people who are coming from Hama countryside; they became displaced largely heading towards the north of Idlib to the border areas with Iskenderun, to be faced with another war against them of the greed of war merchants and extremely high prices of house renting, where the Syrian civilian is having difficulty renting a house north of Idlib due to the high prices of real estate taking advantage of the need of the displaced people, where the rental prices of houses reached 300 and 400 dollars per month up from $100 USD, in addition to commission of the owners of real estate offices, this comes at a time when the income of the worker does not exceeds $200 USD, and many of them are unemployed after losing their homes and work and leaving them behind escaping the death of regime’s warplanes and the Russian warplanes, in addition to the high prices of goods and the fact that they are being controlled by war dealers, in addition to the bad treatment of displaced people.

In this context, the “Council of Ministers” of the Rescue Government issued a package of resolutions after the great popular dissatisfaction with these practices, stating:

“Given the circumstances of the forced displacement experienced in the liberated areas, and the fact that many residents forced to rent property and houses in the lesser bombed areas, and in order to control the rent chaos and to prevent the exploitation of displaced brothers, the following has been decided:

  1. Leases are extended as long as conditions of the contract are met between both parties.
  2. Not to evacuate the tenant as long as they do not violate the terms of the contract and there are no strong and convincing reasons for the eviction.
  3. The maximum rent is set according to the prices that prevailed in Shaaban 1440 (i.e. before the recent wave of displacement).
  4. The commission of owners of the real estate offices which handle the rental and contracting process shall be determined at a maximum of half a month’s rent and only once, regardless of the renewal of the contract or its duration.
  5. Owners of real estate offices must approve the leases at the local councils.
  6. Owners of empty houses are obliged to rent them or open them for the displaced people or to appoint a person to act on their behalf, under the penalty of forced rental according to similar rental prices.
  7. Service branches of the Local Administration Ministry are tasked with overseeing the implementation of this decision, regulating list of orders, and referring violators to the competent authorities to be processed.
  8. This decision shall be reached to those who need to implement it and act according to it until further notice.”