4 days ago
Syria shutters displacement camp Rukban, symbol of Assad regime, people's suffering
Between 2018 and 2019, the number of displaced people in the camp reached 50,000, most of them women and children, according to a Syrian media report.
Syria has moved to close Rukban, a large internally displaced persons camp that was long a symbol of suffering in the country.
The camp was in southern Syria near the Jordanian border. Tens of thousands of Syrians had crowded into this camp. It was in the desert and lacked basic services. Nearby was a US army camp called Al-Tanf Garrison, where there was a small US-backed Syrian rebel unit during the Syrian Civil War.
Most of the people who fled to Rukban were from Homs, the Damascus countryside, Palmyra, and Deir ez-Zor regions.
Now the Rukban camp has closed, according to Syrian officials.
This was made possible by the six months of rule by the new Syrian government. That government came to power when the Assad regime collapsed. The Assad regime was responsible for the suffering and civil war that led to many people fleeing to Rukban. As such, those people can now return home without fear of persecution or arrest.
Syria's Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh confirmed on Saturday, June 7, that the closure of the Rukban camp marks the end of one of the most severe humanitarian tragedies that displaced Syrians have endured over the years, Syria's Al-Ikhbariah reported.
Salah is a well-known figure. During the civil war, he was director of the White Helmets, the Syrian civil defense group that helped people in rebel-held areas. As such, he sees this as an achievement because of his deep knowledge of what IDPs went through in places like Rukban.
US Congressman French Hill praised the move in a post on Twitter/X.
'This is amazing news that these Syrians are now able to return to their families and villages. After more than a decade of Assad's brutal regime, freedom of movement has returned. Thanks to the US Army and the humanitarian groups, like Arkansas's own Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), that facilitated essential food and medicine to enter this remote and beleaguered place. May God bless those headed home to start life anew.'
The SETF posted that the camp was closed and showed the small homes that had previously served the people, which were now empty and covered in the khaki color of the desert dust.
Hill visited Syria in 2023, one of the few Americans to visit the country at the time.
At the time, he said, 'Over the past seven years, I have worked tirelessly as a voice in Congress for the innocent people of Syria who are being brutally murdered by Bashar al-Assad's regime. I am proud that the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), a non-profit based in central Arkansas, which I represent in Congress, has been a strong advocate in leading humanitarian efforts in the region.'
He noted that, 'alongside Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) and Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), on Sunday, I had the pleasure of visiting both the beautiful children of SETF's sponsored school for orphans, the Wisdom House, in northwest Syria and their sponsored healthcare residence for chronically ill Syrians, the House of Healing, in Gaziantep, Turkey.'
He also spoke at the time about the need to help 'dismantle the production and trafficking of captagon' in Syria. 'As a co-chair of the Friends of a Free, Stable and Democratic Syria Caucus alongside Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), I will continue my work in Congress on the issue of Syria and its future. I thank the amazing, dedicated staffs at the Wisdom House and House of Healing for their incredible work in helping the Syrian people and for all Arkansans who support the SETF-backed organizations helping Syrians throughout the region,' he added. Now he has seen this work come to fruition. He praised the fall of Assad in December 2024.
Salah also posted on social media about the importance of closing Rukban. He spoke about ending the suffering at the remaining IDP camps. 'The Rukban camp was subjected to a suffocating siege from all sides by forces of the former Syrian regime. Jordan also closed its borders and halted regular aid deliveries in 2016 after a cross-border ISIS attack killed seven Jordanian soldiers,' Al-Ikhbariah noted.
"Between 2018 and 2019, the number of displaced people in the camp reached 50,000, most of them women and children. The camp witnessed the deaths of several children, including infants, due to a lack of medical supplies and freezing temperatures during the winter,' the report added.
