Al-Rifatiah camp in Idlib countryside is unnoticed and marginalized

Al-Rifatiyah IDPs camp northwest of Salqin city in the northern countryside of Idlib, nearby the Syrian-Turkish borders  includes about 400 displaced people.

The camp, which its residents consider as forgotten by humanitarian, relief organizations and concerned authorities, was established in 2017 randomly and irregularly.

Al-Rifatiyah camp’s tents were distributed between olive trees in a land extending northwest of Salqin, where civilians sought refuge in as searching for safety.

The camp lacks basic and secondary services where its residents face many problems and obstacles, of which education is the most noted, as children made up over one-third of the camp’s population.

The director of al-Rifatiyah camp told North-Press that there are many children with no education ever since they were displaced to the camp, an estimated number of about 150 boys and girls.

According to the camp’s director, these children were deprived of education “as a result of shelling and displacement, the lack of suitable ground for studying and the absence of suitable centers”, pointing out that there were no rehabilitation centers “to take care of psychopaths and people with disabilities, of whom the most need empowerment”.

Abu Jasem, the camp director said: “The camp is forgotten and was established in a random way among olive trees, and does not receive aids from any organizations, while lacks many services such as, a medical point and roads”.

“The roads turn into mud blocks in the winter and I can mention more than one case about our inability to help the patients, as we cannot move them to a hospital because of mud, let alone the absence of a medical center inside the camp,” he added.

Moreover, the director complained about the lack of tents for IDPs, who take blankets as shelter to protect them.

Noman Ayash, who was displaced from the southeastern countryside of Idlib two years ago, told North-Press about the bad situation of the camp, saying: “We are on the verge of winter and there are no serviceable tents to shelter underneath, this is an intolerable situation, the concerned authorities should give a hand and help us”.

Faisal al-Yousef, a displaced an old man from southeastern countryside of Idlib, also complained about the living conditions in the camp, stressing the need for educating the children and providing water cycles and preparing the roads, as organizations have been totally absent since the camp was established.

Swinging between displacement and absence of hopes for return, as a result of the ongoing military operations in the southern countryside of Idlib between the Syrian government forces and the armed opposition groups, where the first aims to expand its scope of control and open the international roads of Aleppo-Damascus and Aleppo-Latakia.