On the anniversary of the Syrian revolution... 1.5 million displaced people in hundreds of camps, is their return impossible?

Northern Syria -

A decade ago, the family of Abdul Rahman Al-Omar was displaced from the countryside of Idlib (northern Syria) to the Atma camps near the border with Turkey.

Since then, the family has not been able to return home or even visit their home, and the days and then years are counted as a tragedy that knows no solution.

Over the course of these ten years of the Syrian revolution against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, this family witnessed remarkable events that changed the course of its life, but did not change the state of its displacement, as it lost one of its members to bombing by the regime’s warplanes 3 years ago, while fleeing the battles. .

Abdul Rahman Al-Omar, 56, says that the belief that prevailed among the Syrian families, who fled the bombing of the countryside of Idlib at the beginning of the revolution, was that the displacement would be temporary and an emergency situation that would not last long, but the intensification of battles and the ground invasion of the regime forces prolonged the departure and displacement for years.

But Al-Omar - in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net - still clings to the dream of returning to his home, and achieving victory for the Syrian revolution, despite the continuation of his journey of displacement and the absence of political or military solutions to the Syrian file, he says.

Al-Omar believes that living freely in a camp in the middle of the open in lands not controlled by the regime is better than living under it, even though living in the camp lacks the minimum necessities of a decent life such as electricity, clean water and food.

The number of displaced people in northwestern Syria is estimated at more than 1.5 million displaced people who live in worn out tents whose lifespan has passed (Al-Jazeera)

impossibility to return

Al-Omar is one of the 1.5 million displaced people who have gathered in this small geographical spot for a decade and several months, within more than 1,489 camps, of which 452 are random camps inhabited by 233,000 displaced people, and do not receive any humanitarian aid at all, according to the latest statistics issued by the “Syria Response Coordinators” team. ".

The team manager, Muhammad Hallaj, confirms that 85% of the camps in northern Syria are older than their expected age, and are subject to damage and do not have the ability to cope with weather conditions.

Hallaj points out that the humanitarian response is still weak in terms of compensating the displaced people affected by the snow and rain storm that struck the area recently, estimating that it did not exceed 18% of the displaced's need, despite the influx of thousands of trucks carrying aid to them.

The northern Syrian regions have witnessed a very cold climate since the beginning of this year, as most of the displaced people live in camps where heating requirements are not met, in addition to the old and damaged tents, which raises fears that many children and the elderly will catch colds.

According to Hallaj, the return of displaced Syrians to their homes at the present time is impossible, as a result of the continued violations of the Syrian regime and Russia by bombing populated areas, which caused the continuation of displacement, pointing out that more than 421 violations were recorded - during one month - that threatened the lives of civilians and destroyed basic facilities.

continuation of the revolution

Thousands of kilometers away from the Atma camp, other displaced Syrians are preparing to commemorate the eleventh anniversary of the Syrian revolution, stressing its continuation until the fulfillment of its demands that it called for in 2011. They say that the deteriorating living conditions will not prevent them from continuing their position of rejecting the rule of the Syrian regime.

The director of al-Tah camp, Abd al-Salam al-Yousef, believes that the Syrian revolution cannot stop no matter how long it takes, and the regime has continued to bombard and kill the Syrian people with various types of internationally prohibited weapons.

Al-Youssef told Al Jazeera Net that the lack of an international will to take a bold decision in the Syrian issue has led to the continuation of the tragedy of the displaced all these years, appealing to the United Nations and the international community "to put an end to the Syrian regime and its support, Russia, which continues to kill humanity in Syria and now Ukraine." , According to him.