DERIK, Syria (North Press) – After more than two weeks of heavy shelling on his village, Muhammad al-Shello, a resident of Mujibera village in the countryside of Zargan town (Abu Rasin), north of Hasakah, northeastern Syria, was forced along with his family to stay in a tent in a camp near the city of Derik.
About a week ago, Shello and other families from the countryside of Tel Tamr were displaced to Newroz Camp near Derik, due to the escalation of the Turkish forces and the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition factions, which targeted populated villages and public facilities in the towns of Tel Tamr and Zargan.
On August 23, two civilians were lightly wounded in shelling by Turkish forces on the village of al-Dardara, 4 km north of Tel Tamr.
On August 17, a woman and a child were killed and many others were wounded as a result of the Turkish shelling of the town of Zargan and other several surrounding villages north of Tel Tamr.
15 people, including children, were wounded, six of whom were transferred to the People’s Hospital in Hasakah, while others were transferred to hospitals in the cities of Derbasiya and Amuda.
“Our areas have become war-stricken. I can tell you that we were hit by 17 to 18 missiles every five minutes. During the last two days we weren’t able to leave our houses,” Shello Said.
Shello and the residents of his village were forced to move towards the agricultural lands in the evening due to the intensification of the bombing, and they slept in the open, to return to their homes during the day.
However, after his nephew was wounded when his house was targeted with artillery, and due to the increased frequency of shelling which prevented him from carrying out his work, Shello eventually left the village for Newroz Camp.
“We were displaced; everyone in the village went to a place.”
Last week, 61 families arrived at Newroz camp, near Derik, in the far northeastern Syria, due to the frequent Turkish bombardment on their area.
In addition to families that came individually to the camp, the number reached 411 families, in total of 1,880 individuals, according to Nadim Omar, a Relations Official in Newroz camp.
Newroz Camp, which was established during the Turkish attack on the areas of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Tel Abyad in 2019, includes 715 families, or a total of 3,420 individuals.
According to Omar, most of the families who arrived are originally displaced from the Sere Kaniye area and settled in the towns of Tel Tamr and Zargan and their villages after 2019.
Insufficient aid
The IDPs who fled their villages are living in difficult humanitarian conditions in light of the insufficient assistance provided to them, which was limited to tents and mattresses, especially since they were unable to take their belongings with them due to the intensification of the bombing.
The new coming IDPs to Newroz camp complain about the lack of aid, which is almost non-existent, as there is no food or supplies sufficient for their families.
The Saint Ephrem Association provided urgent aid to the displaced families, but it is not enough, according to the relations official in Newroz Camp.
Shello expresses his dissatisfaction with the absence of the Russian and American position regarding the continuation of Turkish attacks on the region. “America and Russia care only about their interests. They do not care about what we are exposed to. Can’t they stop Erdogan? They can, but they do not.”
Today, Sunday, Turkish forces and Turkish-backed Syrian armed factions bombed the populated Assyrian villages of Tel Tawil and Tel Karabit, west of Tel Tamr, with mortar and artillery shells.
On August 24, the villages of Tel Jum’a and Tel Karabet in the countryside of Tel Tamr were targeted by the Turkish army and its affiliated armed factions, with artillery and mortar shells, while power was went out from the town and its villages due to the continued targeting of power stations and towers.
We had no choice but the camp
On August 19th, hundreds of residents of Hasakah countryside protested in front of the Russian base in the town of Tel Tamr, denouncing the repeated Turkish bombing of the countryside of Tel Tamr.
The protesters raised banners denouncing the Turkish bombing and pictures of wounded residents, in addition to chanting slogans disapprove the silence of the Russian forces amid the continued Turkish bombing.
A day before the protest, dozens of residents of the town of Zargan intercepted Russian officers and soldiers visited the town, coming from their base in the al-Mabaqer station, north of the nearby town of Tel Tamr.
Nora Abdullaziz, an IDP from the town of Tel Tamr, said that she and other residents of her village were forced to flee because of the heavy bombardment.
“There is no food, no bread, and no aid at the camp, they just gave us tents. There is nothing to sit or sleep on; we have been here for three days. There is no food at all in my tent. I call on the UN to provide us with aid immediately,” Abdullaziz expresses her tragic situation in the camp.
“I don’t have any bread winner. I am alone, I will search for work to maintain my daily needs,” she said.
Near Abdullziz’s tent, Asya Muhammed, a displaced person from the countryside of Tal Tamer, is busy preparing a meal for her family on a stove using leftover dried herbs.
“We fled due to the shelling on Tel Tamr. They target everything; there was nothing to do there. We had no choice but the camp; even the camp isn’t secured.We need everything. We need food, bread…”
She also called on the organizations operating in the area to provide support to the IDPs, in light of their inability to return to their villages now as a result of the continued bombing.