The siege tightens and pressures increase on Majed, who resides in the al-Rukban camp on the Syrian-Jordanian border, little by little, making him forgo many daily essentials, let alone luxuries.

Majed told Enab Baladi that because of the siege imposed by regime forces and Iranian militias, and the money they extort to allow the passage of foodstuffs, prices have surged consecutively.

Majed has completely given up on fruit this year and now resorts to buying just enough vegetables to cook one meal that feeds his family.

The average price of a kilo of vegetables available in the camp is 17,000 Syrian pounds (1.15 US dollars), while the price of a kilo of fruit has reached 50,000 pounds (3.4 dollars).

The prices of other essential food items are also beyond Majed’s reach, such as sugar, which costs 22,000 pounds per kilo (1.4 dollars), and short-grain rice at 23,000 pounds (1.5 dollars).

Medicines are also running out gradually, and most of them are unavailable amid rising prices, according to a worker at one of the camp’s pharmacies who spoke to Enab Baladi.

The camp residents face successive disasters and crises, the most prominent of which are the acute shortage of drinking water, the lack of job opportunities, and the tightening of aid and supplies entry, especially flour.

The medical condition is deteriorating in the two points available in the camp, which lack surgical equipment.

Returning to regime-controlled areas

The poor conditions are forcing some camp residents to leave towards regime-controlled areas, exposing their lives to danger even if they undergo “settlements” of their statuses.

Regime media and its affiliates exaggerate the numbers of returnees from the camp. In the latest group, nine civilians (five men and four children) left, according to the Russian TASS news agency on August 4.

Meanwhile, the local Sham FM radio reported that the number of those who left was 30, “due to the deteriorating humanitarian conditions and living conditions in the camp.”

Mohammad al-Khalidi, a member of the political body in the camp, told Enab Baladi that those leaving the camp are people whose health conditions have worsened due to the lack of medical staff and equipment, and some need surgical operations.

He pointed out that those returning to regime-controlled areas had previously fled from the Islamic State group and do not have security reports against them, so they undergo a security “settlement” and return to their cities and villages.

International Coalition appoints civil committee

The local council in al-Rukban dissolved itself last May, and activists in the camp formed the Rukban Camp Political Body as a political alternative to address humanitarian organizations and the International Coalition to save the camp’s residents.

Al-Khalidi said that dissolving the council was a step towards forming the “political body” and drawing the International Coalition’s attention to the camp’s conditions.

The council is financially unsupported and is in a state of complete paralysis, unable to provide services to the residents. Despite multiple requests to the coalition administration for support, it has not received any for five years, according to al-Khalidi.

In June, the International Coalition formed a civil council composed of 11 people as an alternative to the dissolved local council.

Bassam Abu Subhi, director of the council, explained to Enab Baladi that the council’s current task is to coordinate with international organizations to provide aid and organize their work within the council.

Neglect

Camp residents are demanding the opening of a safe passage for them towards northwestern or northeastern Syria. Efforts and attempts by the camp’s residents to convince Jordan to open medical points and allow UN aid have failed.

Al-Khalidi stated that the camp is neglected by the coalition forces, with declining living conditions, lack of job opportunities, and scarcity of food aid that recently entered the camp.

US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, accused the Syrian regime last June of sparking a humanitarian crisis in al-Rukban camp and obstructing the UN’s humanitarian efforts in the camp.

The Syrian regime prevented the UN from accessing thousands of civilians in the camp, leaving them on the brink of disaster, with food and medical supplies becoming rare.

Last June, the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF) successfully introduced a multidisciplinary medical team to the al-Rukban camp as part of its humanitarian initiative “Syrian Oasis,” launched in June 2023 to alleviate the suffering of the camp’s residents.

Since the start of the Syrian Oasis operation, SETF has managed to deliver vital shipments to al-Rukban, such as seeds, irrigation tools, various medical supplies, milk, prenatal vitamins, and educational materials.

The aid and individuals were transported through the “available airspace” on US military planes.

The al-Rukban camp was established in 2014 to shelter tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing from various areas in the Raqqa, Deir Ezzor, and eastern Homs countryside governorates, who were trying to cross into Jordan following Islamic State’s control over considerable portions of eastern Syria at that time.

Initially a temporary solution, the camp became a permanent center of residence after Jordan completely closed its borders in February 2020 and considered the camp an internal Syrian issue, coinciding with an international abandonment of the residents.