IDPs of Sarmada camps are forgotten people among the rocks

Amid the recent military escalation, which caused large waves of displacement in Idlib and Hama countryside, several informal and irregular camps were established in northern Syria on the Syrian-Turkish borders, including those under olive trees, in the mountains and among the rocks. 

Al-Qala’a camps, which are located in the north of Sarmada city in the northern countryside of Idlib, were newly established and randomly constructed camps where those displaced people were forced to build tents among the rocks in the mountains to escape shelling and death due to lack of suitable accommodation. 

North-Press toured those camps, IDPs complained about poor living and service conditions, some complained about poor roads and lack of schools, while the majority complained about the lack of relief assistance because of their difficult living conditions.

Dureid Othman, a displaced person from Kafr Uweid in Mount Zawiya told North-Press about the circumstances, saying: “We only went out in our clothes, and we were looking for accommodation for a while, but no avail, until we sheltered in the mountains and rocks of this area”.  

Othman added: “Living is difficult without any care or attention from the organizations, and we are worried because winter is coming, the road is dusty and it’s going to become mud in winter”.

He noted the need for schools because “children are without education, especially since the new school year has already started”.

Houriya, was also forced to leave with her children because of the heavy bombardment on her town Kafranbel, she said: “We fled our town because of the shelling and warplanes, and we came to al-Qala’a camps, but there is nothing, not even relief nor aid”, adding that they had been here for three months, as no one came to offer help, “housing is difficult here, I have daughters in addition to the wife of my dead son, and there is no maintainer for us”, she said.  

Speaking to North-Press, one of the camp’s administrators, Ahmad al-Marei said that the number of IDPs in the camp exceeds 3,000 from Idlib and Hama countryside. 

He expressed the camps’ need for a good medical center, by saying: “Especially winter is closing, as the diseases began to spread more”, he also stressed on the need to pave the roads because there are rocky and dusty roads, he pointed out to the absence of an educational center for children and the need for it with the start of the new school year.