Jisr al-Shughur IDPs suffer from a lack of humanitarian support and relief
Idlib – North-Press Agency – Bara Darwish
Hundreds of families in the village of Jisr al-Shughur, within the western part of Idlib governorate, suffer from the lack of humanitarian aid and relief support, amid difficult living conditions due to the military escalation by the Syrian government and Russia on de-escalation zones in the northwest of the country.
As about 5,000 displaced families in the villages and towns of Jisr al-Shughur, west of Idlib, have the same suffering beside the difficulty of securing housing, the high rents of houses.
Local sources confirmed to North-Press that relief assistance had been provided to a number of displaced people living in the villages of al-Jadida, Qunaya, and Amud, in the countryside of Idlib.
Meanwhile, the head of the local council of Jisr al-Shughur Ismail Hasnawi said that more than 4,800 families from Jisr al-Shughur city have displaced toward the northern and eastern countryside of the city, while around 500 families remained because they cannot afford to get out.
He added that some organizations provided “some relief items” to the displaced, timidly. He pointed out that some of the residents did not find a house or shelter to resort to, which forced them to stay in tents on the border strip, or to stay under olive trees, because of the high wages of apartments besides that some of them are not suitable for housing.
Firas Hlalli, an IDP from the city, said that the number of people leaving Jisr al-Shughur has increased, amid the lack of housing, shelter, high rents and a large shortage of food and medicine, and he called on agencies and organizations to support the IDPs.
Hlalli pointed out that displaced people refuse to return to their homes, because they fear of new bombardments that could kill and injure dozens of people and cause a new wave of displacement, as they are suffering from homelessness in northern Idlib governorate and areas close to the Syrian-Turkish border.
Thaer Sawadi, another displaced from Jisr al-Shughur city, explained that he left the city due to the recent military campaign and escalation on the city, which forced the residents to escape from the city fearing of renewed raids and massacres, pointing out that the majority of residents went to villages and towns in the northern countryside of the city adjacent to the Turkish border “because these areas are safer than other countryside.”
He added that although the displaced people resorted to the northern countryside of Idlib, they had a great suffering in finding shelter, which led some of them to stay with their relatives, while another returned to Jisr al-Shughur, despite the ongoing aerial escalation.
It is noteworthy that the damage and destruction in the city of Jisr al-Shughur led the local council in the city to declare it “a devastated city”, without a hospital to cover the medical and pathological situations, while it was covering the needs of about 75 thousand people before.