Halima Hussein, 65, an IDP woman from the city of Afrin in northern Syria, who has been living in Sardam camp in the north of Aleppo Governorate since 2018, spends the hardest days of her life along with three members of her family.
The northern countryside of Aleppo, locally known as the Shahba region, houses IDPs of the Kurdish city of Afrin which was occupied in 2018 by
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...following a military operation called "Olive Branch" to push away the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of protecting Turkey’s "national security".
The operation caused the displacement of about 300.000 of the original inhabitants of the Kurds of Afrin who have been taking shelter in 40 villages and five camps in the Shahba region since then.
Halima thought back to the last 50 years and compared it with the current situation, where there is no electricity or fuel; "the present is extremely hard compared to the past."
Muhammad Rahman, 67, another IDP from Afrin who lives in Sardam camp, described his life as living in a prison, saying, "In the summer, nothing protects us from the scorching sun except a thin sheet of plastic, and in the winter we stay at the mercy of plastic tents."
"We live in misery. There are no fuel, wood, or other resources for cooking or heating," he added.
Rahman’s family uses a kerosene stove for cooking due to the shortage of diesel, gas, and electricity as a result of a siege imposed by the Syrian government forces.
The siege, which is imposed by the Fourth Division of the government forces, started in early November, affected service facilities and caused the closure of schools and other institutions. The only hospital in the area is threatened to close due to banning the entry of oil and foodstuff, according to a medical source.
There are about 16.000 displaced families from Afrin distributed over 42 villages and towns in the Shahba region, in addition to 1.870 families, comprising 7.500 individuals, now living in the camps of Barkhodan, Sardam, Afrin, al-Awda, and Shahba, according to the Social Affairs and Labor Board of the Afrin region, currently operating in Aleppo northern countryside.
The area has been militarily protected by Russian and Syrian government forces since 2018.
In an exclusive statement to North Press on December 8, Badran Chia Kurd, deputy co-presidency of the Autonomous Administration of North East Syria (AANES) said the siege imposed by the government caused a humanitarian catastrophe for hundreds of thousands.
"The reality is tragic and unacceptable, as the government had to offer facilitations to alleviate the sufferings," Kurd added.
The siege deprived people of fuel for heating in the winter. It also deprived children of attending school.
Subhi al-Ahmad, the Co-chair of the AANES’ Education Board in the Shahba region said, "We were forced, due to the siege imposed by the [government’s] Fourth Armored Division, to close all schools for a week, until the fuel problem is solved."
Ahmad Mamo, 35, an IDP from Afrin who also lives in Sardam camp, said, "We spend our nights without any sources of heating; all my family members had a cold and found nothing to avoid its effects except for blankets."
812 families in the camp do not have access to heating or electricity. Those families are suffering from the scarcity of medicines amid an increased number of people who have a cold, said Hassan Othman, director of the council of Sardam camp.
Othman added that the Syrian government’s Fourth Division prevents the entry of medicines and fuel to the area. Additionally, it imposes fees to allow the passage of some necessary supplies.