The siege of Rukban camp must end

Thousands of desperate and vulnerable people are being starved by the Syrian regime

Syrian civilians inside Al Rukban camp. AFP

Regime and Russian forces have carried out a bombing campaign against Syria's last rebel stronghold of Idlib since April, leaving thousands of people dead, injured, traumatised and homeless. Unfortunately, the beleaguered north-western province is not the only area where civilians are being targeted. In south-east Syria, on the Jordanian border, Bashar Al Assad's forces and their Russian ally continue to lay siege to the Rukban camp. They claim that extremist militants are hiding among the camp's 40,000 civilians, and that the blockade is designed to weed them out. In reality, the denial of basic supplies and medicine is yet another collective punishment inflicted upon those who have fled the regime. The last time aid was allowed into Rukban was in February this year. Jordan has closed off its border after a 2016 suicide attack claimed by ISIS, leaving the camp completely isolated. Appalling living conditions have pushed more than a third of its residents, who were originally driven out of Homs after a three-year siege in 2014, to flee once more to other parts of Syria.

"There is no one here to help us", camp resident Imad Al Kheir told The National, "no one is showing us any mercy." Because the camp falls within a US-protected zone, near a military base, residents are shielded from Russian and regime air strikes. However, the US has refused to take its involvement a step further and provide aid, for fear that such a move would signal an indefinite deployment of US troops at the nearby Al Tanf military base. When the US announced it was withdrawing most of its troops from Syria, in March, there were fears that civilians would become vulnerable to attacks by the regime and its allies. From Idlib to Rukban, that threat appears to have become a grim reality. Of those who have already fled, 37 are reported to have been arrested or kidnapped, and at least one has died while attempting to flee regime custody.

Rukban's population now faces a cruel dilemma: remain at the risk of starving, or leave for unsafe regime-held areas. At least 6,000 are ready to risk staying in the camp. Others are asking for a safe passage to Idlib. That these people would rather move to a province that has been relentlessly shelled for months than live in regime-held areas shows the extent of their desperation. The international community has an obligation to demand that the siege be broken. In the meantime, the Syrian people must not to be abandoned by the very forces who claim to protect their country.