QAMISHLI, Syria - Kurds sheltering in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli are struggling to survive frigid temperatures and shortages of food and water after fighting between Kurdish- and Syrian-led armed forces forced them to flee.
Ahmad Hussein has been displaced in northeastern Syria since 2018, when the Turkish military and Syrian armed groups seized his hometown of Afrin, driving residents out of the Kurdish-majority city. The recent attacks by the new Syrian government on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have once again forced him to flee, this time to Qamishli.
"He ran out of milk 3-4 hours ago. We mixed milk with water - but that’s gone now, too, after we tried mixing water with yogurt," Hussein told Rudaw on Friday while trying to calm his five-month-old infant.
"I don’t know what to say. Aren’t we Muslims?"
More than 2,500 Kurdish families displaced have fled to Qamishli on the Turkish border from other parts of northern Syria as fighting flared.
The UN warned Thursday that tens of thousands face dire humanitarian conditions after fleeing Hasaka province in the autonomous Kurdish-run region known as Rojava and Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, which the Syrian government seized from Kurdish forces last week. UN Security Council members called for an end to fighting, with the UK and France demanding “unimpeded humanitarian access” in Syria and along the borders.
Civilians who fled the fighting are sheltering in schools. Conditions are dire, with three or four families with more than 10 people huddled under blankets in each room. Food, water and fuel used for heat are scarce or nonexistent.
"We’re freezing and there is no kerosene. We take our children to the doctor in blankets. We don’t know where to go as it continues to snow," said Mohammed Bibo.
Jihan Ahmad, who is also displaced, also said they have run out of fuel.
There were conflicting reports if a four-day ceasefire between the SDF and Damascus, which could boost humanitarian aid by opening up roads and quelling the fighting, would be extended beyond Saturday evening.
Ahmad Hussein has been displaced in northeastern Syria since 2018, when the Turkish military and Syrian armed groups seized his hometown of Afrin, driving residents out of the Kurdish-majority city. The recent attacks by the new Syrian government on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have once again forced him to flee, this time to Qamishli.
"He ran out of milk 3-4 hours ago. We mixed milk with water - but that’s gone now, too, after we tried mixing water with yogurt," Hussein told Rudaw on Friday while trying to calm his five-month-old infant.
"I don’t know what to say. Aren’t we Muslims?"
More than 2,500 Kurdish families displaced have fled to Qamishli on the Turkish border from other parts of northern Syria as fighting flared.
The UN warned Thursday that tens of thousands face dire humanitarian conditions after fleeing Hasaka province in the autonomous Kurdish-run region known as Rojava and Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, which the Syrian government seized from Kurdish forces last week. UN Security Council members called for an end to fighting, with the UK and France demanding “unimpeded humanitarian access” in Syria and along the borders.
Civilians who fled the fighting are sheltering in schools. Conditions are dire, with three or four families with more than 10 people huddled under blankets in each room. Food, water and fuel used for heat are scarce or nonexistent.
"We’re freezing and there is no kerosene. We take our children to the doctor in blankets. We don’t know where to go as it continues to snow," said Mohammed Bibo.
Jihan Ahmad, who is also displaced, also said they have run out of fuel.
There were conflicting reports if a four-day ceasefire between the SDF and Damascus, which could boost humanitarian aid by opening up roads and quelling the fighting, would be extended beyond Saturday evening.
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