Paid siege six days on | Al-Rukban camp run out of supplies and its inhabitants struggle with astronomically inflated prices

The inhabitants of Al-Rukban camp, which is located in the 55 kilometre de-confliction zone near the Syria-Jordan-Iraq border triangle, have run out of food supplies, as the only road to the camp, Hajez Al-Muthalath road, has been closed for the sixth consecutive day. The road is supervised by Russian and regime forces and Iranian-backed militias which are deployed along the road.

 

Moreover, the camp has completely run out of infant formula, as well as the complete shortage of many kinds of medicines, flour and vegetables, where the camp’s inhabitants depend mainly on cow milk and its derivatives for their meals, especially since the prices of available products have reached an unprecedented and unaffordable level.

 

Civilians in Al-Rukban camp face paid siege by Russian and regime forces and Iranian-backed militias who had allowed the passing of a little goods in return for paying levies to members stationed at checkpoints. Recently, members stationed at checkpoints ask drivers transporting and smuggling goods to Al-Rukban camp to pay larger levies to force the inhabitants of the camp to leave the camp.

 

SOHR activists have explained that cutting off the only road to Al-Rukban camp is attributed to disputes between the military intelligence branch in Palmyra and the regime air-force intelligence troops which are stationed in T4 airbase, where every party is attempting to impose its influence over this commercial route.

 

Residents have confirmed that the ongoing disputes between the two sides badly effects all aspects of living inside Al-Rukban camp.

 

The camp’s inhabitants called upon all relevant authorities to interfere and contribute to allowing the entry of basic products to the camp, keep them away from the ongoing disputes and not using civilians as a bargaining chip under any conditions.

 

In late February, SOHR sources reported that the humanitarian situation in Al-Rukban camp within the 55-kilometre de-confliction zone near the Syria-Iraq-Jordan border triangle gets worse, as regime forces stationed at military checkpoints continue clamping down on residents inside the camp, after chasing a collaborator with regime forces and their intelligence services by members of the “Syrian Free Army” to arrest him.

 

Regime forces have been closing the only commercial road which links regime-held areas and the camp region for a week; this resulted in the depletion of heating supplies in light of the spell of harsh weather and freezing temperatures which strike the camp.