The displaced Syrian families continue to leave the desert Rukban camp, located on the Syrian-Jordanian border, towards regime-controlled areas, without any guarantees that these families will not be exposed to the risks of arrest or enforced disappearance.
Maher al-Ali, head of the Palmyra and Syrian Badia Tribes Council, told Zaman al-Wasl that about 18 families and 25 young people have left Rukban camp since the beginning of April due to the difficult humanitarian conditions and the lack of the necessities of life such as food, medicine, education, potable water, the high cost of living and the lack of job opportunities.
The people leaving from the Rukban camp are divided into several categories, such as families with medical conditions that need medical care that is only available in the regime’s areas, including the herdsmen who go out in search of more fertile areas to care for their livestock, as they head to the coastal areas and the “al-Ghab Plain” area in Hama province.
They also include young men who leave through brokers who work for the regime and conduct a "security settlement" for them in Homs province, in return for sums of money of no less than $1,200 for each person.
Al-Ali indicated that the departures must obtain the approval of the "Maghawir al-Thawra" faction to allow them to leave the "55 Area", as the latter imposes sums of money in exchange for allowing them to leave the area.
With regard to living life inside the Rukban camp, foodstuffs are of high prices, due to the large royalties imposed by the regime forces and the "Maghawir al-Thawra" faction on the entry of these materials.
In addition, traders buy foodstuffs and then smuggle them from the camp to the areas controlled by the "Islamic State" in the Badia desert.
Al-Ali stressed that they had warned the international coalition forces against the exit of food supplies from the "55" area under their control towards ISIS-controlled areas, but to no avail.
The Rukban camp is located in the demilitarized border area with Jordan, and about three thousand people are currently living in it, most of them women and children, while the suffocating siege imposed by the regime forces and Russia on the camp since June 2018, has led to a shortage of food, medical supplies and fuel.
Northwestern Syria is home to 3.5 million refugees but is controlled by the Turkish-backed opposition factions and by Islamist HTS fighters.
The Syrian conflict - which led to the loss of at least 500,000 lives and displaced more than 13,2 million people - began in 2011 after the Assad regime brutally cracked down on peaceful pro-democracy protests.
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