The Russian Reconciliation Center mentioned that 26 Syrian displaced persons left the al-Rukban camp on the Syrian-Jordanian border in the past 24 hours due to deteriorating living conditions.
The Russian news agency TASS quoted the deputy head of the Reconciliation Center, Oleg Ignasyuk, on Thursday, September 19, saying that the Russian center helped 26 displaced persons, including 14 children, to leave the al-Rukban camp in the al-Tanf area.
Ignasyuk did not mention the reasons that led to the deterioration of living conditions in the camp, but he held the United States, which controls the area, responsible for the humanitarian situation there.
The Russian Reconciliation Center, which is a division of the Russian Ministry of Defense, added, “The humanitarian situation in the al-Rukban refugee camp in the al-Tanf area occupied by the United States remains dire.”
The Russian Reconciliation Center had announced, on May 26, the departure of five Syrian displaced persons from the al-Rukban camp due to deteriorating living conditions.
The al-Rukban camp, located in an area known as the “55-kilometer area” controlled by the US-led International Coalition, has been suffering from worsening living conditions for years, with only modest interventions from Syrian and international organizations, while the Coalition keeps away from the conditions of the camp’s residents.
The Syrian Emergency Task Force reported on September 9 the arrival of a medical team consisting of five doctors to the al-Rukban camp, as part of ongoing efforts to improve the medical situation in the camp.
The Hesar network, specialized in monitoring news from al-Rukban, reported that the medical team consists of a surgical assistant, an orthopedic surgeon, an anesthesiologist, a maxillofacial surgeon, and a dentist.
The medical team’s mission continued until September 16, during which dozens of patients were examined, and many emergency surgeries were performed.
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Muhammad Akhtiyar described the health situation in the camp as “tragic,” noting that he performed about 60 surgeries in four days.
Dr. Akhtiyar told the Hesar (Siege) website, which covers news of al-Rukban camp, that the medical point in the camp lacks the simplest tools that could help doctors provide medical care to patients, both in terms of diagnosis or performing surgeries.
The medical team also conducted a vaccination campaign for the children of the camp during this visit, for the first time since mid-2019, when vaccination campaigns stopped due to the difficult security conditions and the siege imposed by regime forces on the area.
Regime forces and their allies besiege the al-Rukban camp, with more than 100 military points around the area, imposing a siege on the residents and increasing the humanitarian challenges they face daily.
According to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor in Syria, eight thousand people reside in the camp, matching the statistics published by the Voice of Rukban account on the “X” platform, which reports news from inside the camp.