Refugees escaping ISIS control arrive in Hakasah
[ARA News] HASAKAH – Over 7.6 million Syrians have been internally displaced between the different provinces of the war-torn country, as fighting continues between the various armed groups across Syria, according to the United Nations humanitarian agency.
Deir ez-Zor province, where the Assad regime and the Islamic State group (ISIS) share control, has witnessed a mass displacement among civilians amid mounting violence.
More than five years have passed since thousands have been displaced from the Deir ez-Zor province, taking shelter in the northeastern Hasakah province. Some of them took shelter in school buildings that have been evacuated for them in Hasakah city. Local sources told ARA News that the displaced are encountering hard living conditions there, lacking basic supplies amid inability by the local aid organisations to provide sufficient help to thousands of displaced families.
Speaking to ARA News, Zainab Laila, a displaced woman from Deir ez-Zor who recently arrived to Hasakah, said: “We suffer shortage of basic supplies such as water. Here we’re obliged to buy water for 150 Lira per barrel. As for food, in the past we’ve been provided with food supplies and other aid every two or three months. However, now we barely find someone to give us some food. This is our life under those hard conditions.”
Some of them try to find a work in Hasakah city in order to cover daily needs of their families, but the law wages prevent them from providing their families with the basic supplies.
Ahmed Biebi, a displaced Syrian man from Deir ez-Zor, told ARA News: “I’m here with my wife and six daughters, and I cannot afford the basic needs for my family.”
“Prior to displacement I was employee, but I haven’t received my salary since more than two years. Now in this situation I need to find any job in order to be able to support my family,” he said.
“I hereby appeal to the international organisations to provide us with help, either work opportunities or aid. Those displaced families need support in order to survive this crisis,” Biebi told ARA News.
Thousands of displaced Syrian families have found a safe haven in Hasakah province for years. However, the recent surge of violence that hit the province has made it harder for the people, causing a state of instability even among its own inhabitants.
“The situation here [in Hasakah] is just a sample for the difficulties that the Syrian people encounter,” Laila said. “Nowhere is save inside this country. We became victims of this bloody war, and every armed group only cares about seizing more control, no matter how many innocent lives that would cost.”
ISIS mutilates man it says was a thief
[ARA News] RAQQA – Extremists of the Islamic State (ISIS) on Sunday punished a young Syrian man in the northeastern city of Raqqa by cutting off his right hand after accusing him of theft, activists reported.
Two ISIS militants carried out the punishment in front of dozens of people in a public square in Raqqa city.
“The man’s right hand was amputated after the ISIS-linked Hisba police accused him of stealing, but they didn’t explain what this young man has exactly stolen,” a media activist told ARA News in Raqqa, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A member of the ISIS-led Sharia Court read a statement prior to conducting the punishment on Sunday afternoon, saying that the Islamic Sharia recommends the amputation of the right hand of any citizen charged with theft.
“This kind of punishment is barbaric. It is merely meant to terrify people, besides the ISIS-led sharia court doesn’t have the basic capabilities to investigate any such case,” Syrian human rights activist Omar al-Muthanna told ARA News.
“They accuse and punish people publicly to show that they’re still in control and have the power to establish order, especially in Raqqa, which is the de facto capital of their alleged Caliphate,” Muthanna said.