• War in Syria: When the displaced have nowhere to flee
  • Aim Graph.Testies of conflicts without end

The only difference with Roberto Benigni's award-winning work is that this is real: an overwhelming roar sounds in Saraqib and the three-year-old Salwa explodes in a laugh. Together with his father, Abdullah, they have invented a game to avoid "a horrifying new level" of war, in the words of the UN delegate for Humanitarian Affairs.

"Children are going through a psychological trauma due to constant bombing. I looked for a way to make these bombings a reason for happiness," explains the 32-year-old parent to The Independent . "I told the kids that the sound of the bombings comes from toy guns. And it's not scary, but funny . She thinks the bombings are from toy guns."

This has been the only way to circumvent reality for these survivors of the wild war in Syria, newly displaced from Saraqib to Sarmada, in the province of Idlib, due to the advances of the official forces. "We don't want any more attacks. We are happy to live under an awning and get some food," says the father.

His family's drama is one more in a tragic ocean. After weeks of intense attacks on civil infrastructure, forces loyal to the Syrian Government, supported by Russian aviation and Shiite militias provided by Iran, have managed to retake the M5, the main highway linking Aleppo to Damascus. The second largest Syrian city has also been free of oppositional hostilities.

While many in Aleppo celebrate the official victories, there is a humanitarian drama on the opposite front. Together with Abdullah and his offspring, the United Nations warned yesterday that 900,000 people have been forced to move since last December. They have nowhere to go, beyond staying in a tent, or sleeping under the satin next to the Turkish border, closed to lime and song to avoid another immigration crisis.

" The crisis in northwestern Syria has reached a horrifying new level ," said Mark Lowcock, head of Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief at the UN on the same day. The delegate said that among the displaced there are mostly women and children who are "traumatized and forced to sleep in the middle of glacial temperatures, as the camps are full."

"We want to live without fear"

"Mothers burn plastic to keep their children warm. Babies and toddlers are dying due to the cold," he emphasizes. The low temperatures are baiting with displaced people who, activists denounce, are being deliberately ignored by an international community that does not confront the Syrian President. The trauma for the victims of this displacement is unspeakable, they lament.

The escaped are torn between the possibility of returning home when the attacks cease and the Government retakes the area, if they have no dissident history, and those who left to not return. "Some people maintain some hope that their house, business or industry will be rebuilt. We don't think about it anymore. We just think about being away from Bashar Asad and his army," says Abdullah. "We want to be far from the bombings. Getting to enter Turkey is one of our hopes. Or that the Turkish army protects us, and that the conflict is resolved and we can return to our home safe. We want to live without fear."

Lowcock described the violence in Idlib, the last opposing stronghold - dominated by extremist forces similar to al Qaeda - as "indiscriminate." "Sanitary facilities, schools, residential areas, mosques and markets have been attacked. [...] Basic infrastructure is being reduced to nothing, " he said in a statement.

The withdrawal is also being punished. "We are receiving reports that settlements for displaced people are being beaten, resulting in deaths, injuries and more displacements," the UN warns to deaf ears. That's why Salwa and his father just have to laugh believing that military weapons are made of plastic. Until perhaps, unfortunately, the same ending as Guido Orefice comes.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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