Civil Administration in Syria’s Tabqa expands IDP camp
TABQA, Syria (North Press) – A local official in social affairs in the city of Tabqa, northern Syria, announced that the Civil Administration is working to expand a camp for the displaced in the countryside of the city.
Hussein Shahadah, deputy chairperson of the Social Affairs and Work Committee of the Democratic Civil Administration in Tabqa, said that they are working to expand Mahmoudli camp for displaced persons with the aim of organizing it and building new tents to accommodate all displaced families.
“We are working to alleviate the pressure on IDPs, who were received randomly during their displacement from Ain Issa camp, and that the expansion included the establishment of 190 new tents,” he told North Press.
Mahmoudli Camp is located 15 km north of Tabqa city, and is home to 1,778 displaced families, including 8,497 people.
On October 13, 2019, many displaced families in Ain Issa camp, 50 km north of the city of Raqqa, were forced to flee to Mahmoudli camp in the countryside of Tabqa after the former was bombed by Turkish forces and the Turkish-backed armed opposition groups as part of their military operation in the northeast Syria.
Shahadah said that the reception of the displaced from Ain Issa camp took place randomly, and a camp was established for them in Mahmudli stadium and park.
As a result of the natural increase in the number of camp family members, the need for expansion works arose, according Shahadah.
The administration of the Mahmoudli Camp is temporarily preventing the entry of new IDPs, “to preserve the health safety of the displaced in light of the spread of COVID-19.”
The number of families that have been transferred so far is between 10 and 15, and all families need to be transferred from the random housing in the camp to the organized sector and the tents that have been prepared for ten days, according to Shahadah.