Turkish-controlled areas | Humanitarian crises, and the people of Syria the ultimate losers

The inhumane situation is worsening in areas under the control of Turkish forces and their proxy factions. At a time when starvation is looming, the novel pandemic (COVID-19) starts to spread in areas under the control of the Turkish forces, jihadi groups and opposition factions, deepening the sufferings of displaced people who have been already plagued with the repercussions of war, high prices and deteriorating living conditions.

 

 

Coronavirus outbreaks

 

According to SOHR activists, the first confirmed coronavirus case in areas under the control of Turkish forces and opposition factions was officially announced on July 9, 2020. The infected case was of a doctor working in Bab Al-Hawa hospital, entering  from Turkey a few days earlier and mingled with dozens of people inside the hospital. The hospital has suspended work completely after the detection of this case and imposed full quarantine on the patients and medical staff .

 

On July 10, another doctor in Atma hospital in Idlib province was confirmed infected with the novel coronavirus, bringing the number of infected cases among doctors to three, while the total number of infected cases in Idlib and Aleppo has risen to 11, including six cases among the medical teams.

 

Displacement waves on the rise

 

Syrian Observatory activists monitored on July 14, 2020, a new wave of displacement  in Ariha city and other villages in Jabal Al-Zawiyah, as civilians were fleeing from the intensive and escalating bombardment by regime ground forces and Russian jets. Idlib is one of the most overpopulated Syrian provinces with large numbers of displaced people and refugee camps , which drains the province’s own economic resources and leads to the spread of various negative social phenomena, including the high ratio of poverty, unemployment, crimes and violence.

Deteriorating health conditions

 

The areas controlled by Turkish forces and opposition factions are suffering from severe shortage of medical teams, medicines, ventilators and other equipment needed for the treatment of war casualties,, general patients and infection cases.

 

Idlib hospitals contain nearly 200 beds in intensive care departments, and just 95 ventilators for adults, which are fully operational for different diseases. Meanwhile, the total number of beds in all hospitals in Idlib is 3,065, only one bed for each 1,592 civilians. However, the situation in Aleppo countryside is relatively better than in Idlib.

 

In addition, a large number of doctors and medics have left Syria because of the security chaos and deteriorating living conditions.

 

 

Run-down infrastructure

 

The Turkish-controlled areas in NW Syria suffer from dilapidated infrastructure, mostly destroyed during aerial and ground bombardment and conflicts among different warring powers, in addition to the spread of too many refugee camps, especially in Idlib and surrounding areas. These camps, which accommodate some three million people, half of whom have been displaced from other areas, suffer from malnutrition and lack of many basic services like drinking water and well-functioning sewer systems and sanitation.

 

 

Aid suspension

 

As a part of the “politicization” of humanitarian aid delivery into Syria, vital aid supplies have been blocked as the United Nations Security Council failed to extend permission  for humanitarian aid to be delivered via crossings on the Turkey border, because of the Russian-Chinese veto. Moscow has insisted on reducing the number of border crossings to one, Bab Al-Hawa crossing in Idlib, arguing that 85 % of humanitarian aid supplies pass across this border crossing. Russia also wanted to shut down the other border crossing, Bab Al-Salama crossing in Azaz in northern Aleppo.

 

Moreover, the north-western Syria region suffers from the lack of governmental actors’ effective role in the wake of Turkey’s inaction and unfulfilled commitments and promises to the Syrians, in addition to the inability of humanitarian organizations in these areas to provide the needed aid to all civilians there.

 

Education process retardation

 

According to reliable SOHR sources, the sector of education has sustained the largest share of damage and destruction due to bombardment and displacement, with a large number of displaced people being children, and Idlib is a case in point, where children are either dropping out or stay in education but facing obstacles hindering their education. The Syrian Observatory believes that the reasons behind these obstacles are attributed to several factors, chief among them are:

• Lack of schools in refugee camps.

• The long distance between camps and schools.

• Poverty which makes families unable to buy school supplies such as uniform and stationary.

• The high cost of traveling because of fuel shortage.

• The interruption of support to educational organizations, especially in northern Syria.

• Poorly qualified personnel and institutions.

 

• The destruction of many schools during military operations.

 

 

Deteriorating economic and living conditions

 

The areas controlled by Turkish forces and opposition factions experience astronomically inflated prices of staples and essential products due to the current economic hardship and Syrian currency plunge, along with the increasing demand to buy the Turkish lira and the subsequent stockpiling of many goods and monopolization of essential products, especially since these areas are regarded as a market for many imported foodstuffs.

 

Furthermore, these overpopulated areas are also suffering from the spread of unemployment and lack of job opportunities because of the increased number of displaced people, and the seizure of large swaths of farmlands by regime forces and jihadi factions, which prevented  land owners and a large number of young people from working , turning them from producers into consumers.

 

In addition, the Turkish-backed factions have forced peasants in “Peace Spring” areas to pay 5,000 SYL for every dunam of fields planted with wheat or barley, as well as paying the “Zakat” estimated at six bags of the harvest. All of these factors led to the prevalent of poverty among civilians.

 

The awkward humanitarian situation in Syrian territories controlled by Turkish forces, jihadi groups and opposition faction alerts to imminent humanitarian crisis which will most definitely plague the Syrians’ economic and living conditions, and may leave catastrophic effects on all the nations of the world. Such crisis is expected to claim the lives of millions of Syrian people, especially with the spread of coronavirus and the looming starvation which will cover large swathes of Syria geography.

 

We, at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, call upon all relevant international actors, medical and humanitarian organizations to offer immediate and effective support and to prevent the spread of the novel pandemic in these areas which host over four million people, especially since Turkey, not concerned with the plight of the Syrian people, safeguards its own narrow interests in Syria.