Refugees Report Dire Situation in US-Controlled Al-Tanf Region in Syria
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Russia’s defense ministry says internally displaced people who have returned to Syria complain about the critical humanitarian situation in the strategic al-Tanf region, which is occupied by US military forces and borders Iraq and Jordan.
"According to information obtained by the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria from refugees who returned to the Syrian government-controleld zone from the Rukban refugee camp in the US-occupied zone of Al Tanf, the humanitarian situation in the camp is disastrous," Yegorov said.
According to the Russian official, Rukban residents are experiencing shortages of food, essential items, medicines and fuel.
"At the same time, the command of the US-controlled illegal armed group Maghaweir al-Thowra seeks to persuade refugees that Russia and Damascus are to blame for that, since they allegedly refuse to allow the passage of humanitarian convoys to Al-Tanf," Yegorov added.
He stressed that over the past six months, the Reconciliation center, in cooperation with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, have been repeatedly offering to provide a safe corridor for a humanitarian convoy to the Rukban camp.
"In breach of UN Security Council Resolution 2254 of year 2015, all those proposals were rejected by the American command," Yegorov said.
Separately, US occupation troops have kidnapped four people in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah, and took them to an unknown destination.
Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing local sources, reported that they were rounded up during an airdrop operation conducted by the American troops in the town of al-Shaddadi on Tuesday.
The sources added that militants affiliated with the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) cordoned off the area before the US aerial operation. The four people are said to hail from the neighboring Deir Ez-Zur province.
The US military has for long stationed its forces and equipment in northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.
Damascus, however, maintains the deployment is meant to plunder the country’s natural resources. Former US president Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces had their presence in the Arab country for its oil wealth.
