812 IDP families from Afrin in Aleppo suffer from winter supplies shortage
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – An official in an IDP camp in the northern countryside of Aleppo Governorate, said on Wednesday that as winter is coming, there are 812 families from Afrin with no heaters or enough blankets.
The camp’s management is preparing to exchange worn tents with new ones and repair more than 500 heaters, let alone securing all needs of the camp’s residents, said Hassan Othman, director of Sardam camp for Afrin IDPs.
Aleppo northern countryside, also known as Shahba region, houses IDPs of the Kurdish city of Afrin which was occupied in 2018 by Turkey following a military operation called “Olive Branch” to push away the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of protecting Turkey’s “national security”.
The operation caused the displacement of about 300.000 of the original inhabitants of the Kurds of Afrin who have been taking shelter in Shahba region since then.
There are about 16.000 displaced families from Afrin distributed over 42 villages and towns in Shahba region, in addition to 1.870 families, comprising 7.500 individuals, now living in the camps of Barkhodan, Sardam, Afrin, al-Awda, and Shahba, according to the Social Affairs and Labor Board of the Afrin region, currently operating in Aleppo northern countryside.
Othman told North Press that they work along with the camp’s residents to put gravels on tents’ sides to prevent rainwater intrusion.
He added that they suffer from the siege imposed on the region by the Fourth Division, a military formation affiliated with Syrian government forces, that prevent the entry of medicine and fuel, not to mention fines on the passage of main needs.
The director called for international organizations to put pressure on the government forces to lift the siege and to allow and facilitate the passage of fuel and food supplies.