The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

HTS atrocities | Security forces expel displaced people from refugee camps in Sarmada, to expand a quarry of HTS commander

Members of HTS security forces have informed displaced families in Al-Bardaqli camp in Sarmada city, that they have to evacuate the site and to leave to another place. The security forces have already expelled several displaced people from their tents.

 

This action comes with the purpose of expanding the quarry owned by an HTS commander. The quarry is located near several refugee camps accommodating hundreds of families, as the explosions and resulting dust causes respiratory diseases, which poses threat to the safety and lives of the displaced people there.

 

Earlier in July, a security official in Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham had threatened demonstrators demanding the suspension of the work in a quarry, extracting building materials from the ground, in Deir Hassan town, near a refugee camp accommodating displaced people from the southern countryside of Idlib.

 

According to Observatory sources, dozens of people of the camps in northern Idlib participated in a demonstration near the asphalt mixer and rock crusher in the area, protesting the damage caused by the excavation work and the resulting dust. The demonstrators also protested the ongoing explosions that terrorize children and women, in addition to the shattered stones during these explosions, which caused serious injuries and damaged properties.

 

It is worth noting that a child had been injured a few days earlier, while solar panels that generate electricity were broken and tents were torn apart, as a result of shattered stones.

 

In the meantime, members of the HTS security forces confronted the large number of demonstrators, while a security official threatened them saying: “We would remove you with your tents, rather than removing the quarry which is for the benefit of Muslims.”