The notorious Rukban displacement camp in the Syrian desert, a dark emblem of the country’s civil war, has closed, with the last remaining families returning to their hometowns.
Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said on Saturday on X that with the dismantlement of the camp, “a tragic and sorrowful chapter of displacement stories created by the bygone regime’s war machine comes to a close”.
“Rukban was not just a camp, it was the triangle of death that bore witness to the cruelty of siege and starvation, where the regime left people to face their painful fate in the barren desert,” he added.
Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh said that the closure of the Rukban camp marks the end of one of the most severe humanitarian tragedies faced by displaced Syrians in recent years.
Saleh added via the X platform that he hopes this step will mark the beginning of a path that will end the suffering of the remaining camps and return their residents to their homes with dignity and safety.
The camp, established in 2014 at the height of the country’s ruinous civil war, was built in a deconfliction zone controlled by the United States-led coalition forces fighting against ISIL (ISIS).
Most of the camp's residents come from the areas of al-Qaryatayn, Tadmur, and Mahin in the eastern Homs countryside, in addition to displaced people from Deir ez-Zor province.
The camp was used to house those fleeing ISIL fighters and bombardment by the then-government of President Bashar al-Assad, seeking refuge and hoping to eventually cross the border into Jordan.
But al-Assad’s regime rarely allowed aid to enter the camp as neighbouring countries also blocked access to the area, rendering Rukban isolated for years under a punishing siege.
About 8,000 people lived in the camp, staying in mud-brick houses with food and basic goods smuggled in at high prices.
With Al Jazeera
Zaman Al Wasl
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