HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – In Washokani camp in the west of Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria, Asmahan al-Ali is concerned about the decrease in the amount of relief aid provided by humanitarian organizations, as the provided aid does not meet the needs of the IDPs for more than a week.
Three years ago, al-Ali displaced from her village of Rehaniyah, north of the town of Tel Tamr, north of Hasakah, after the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA), supported by Turkey occupied it along with other areas in 2019 during a military operation called “Peace Spring”.
The lack of aid affected al-Ali’s living situation, because she did not have the ability to buy materials from outside the camp. Additionally, there are no job opportunities for many families who do not have a breadwinner.
Families, despite the difference in the number of their members, often receive one food basket each month, while hygiene baskets have not been distributed for several months, as well as, fans and cooling means have not been distributed yet despite the scorching summer days.
In October 2019, Turkish forces along with the SNA factions occupied Sere Kaniye after a military operation named Peace Spring, and forcibly displaced about 300.000 of the city’s original inhabitants.
Since then, most of the displaced people have been sheltered in the IDP camps of Sere Kaniye, Washokani and Newroz, while others are sheltered at a number of schools in the city of Hasakah. Other IDPs spread to other cities of northeast Syria.
“We have been living in difficult conditions for six months, there has been a decline in the amount of aid provided to us,” al-Ali added.
“I have a family of eight One food basket is not enough for us at all, and most of its materials are not fit for consumption, such as rice and bulgur,” she noted.
Washokani camp houses about 2.500 families from the Turkish occupied areas of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), the countryside of the towns of Tel Tamr and Abu Rasin, according to the camp management’s statistics.
Despite the large number of IDPs in this camp, it is internationally marginalized, the management said.
In a previous statement to North Press, Ster Rashik, an official in Washokani camp, said that “Syrian government considers the camp illegal and prevents the organizations licensed by it from working in the camp.”
Rashik pointed out that there are many shortcomings, such as the lack of fans and cooling means, and some tents have not been changed for three years. This increases the suffering of the families, forcing them to sit in their shade during the day to escape the heat inside.
All this happening amid the ongoing closure of al-Ya’rubiyah (Tel Kocher) border crossing, which negatively affected the entry of humanitarian aid into northeastern Syria.
The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), which houses more than 150,000 refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in its areas, has been calling on the Security Council since 2019 to reopen al-Ya’rubiyah border-crossing, so humanitarian aid can be delivered to people in need.
Al-Ya’rubiyah border-crossing is located on the Syrian- Iraqi border and was the most official crossing between the two countries prior to the Syrian conflict in 2011.
Prior to the crossing’s closure in 2019, which happed because of Russian-Chinese veto in the UN Security Council, 103 medical facilities were receiving aid across the crossing to northeastern Syria, according to a report by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the Security Council in the beginning of 2020.
The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) defeated ISIS militarily.
Difficult living conditions
Facing this reality, the IDPs describe their situation during the summer, in tents under high temperatures without means of cooling, as “miserable.”
In a nearby tent within the camp, the IDP Ahmad Muhammad, who hails from the village of al-Arishah, south of Sere Kaniye, complains about the delay in distributing the aid baskets to them, despite the difficult living conditions they suffer from.
Muhammad, the breadwinner of five, told North Press “The lack of aid affects our living situation a lot, as most of the camp’s residents are unemployed and we depend mainly on this aid provided by humanitarian organizations.”
Like many other IDPs, Muhammad demands more support for them in light of their limited capabilities.