More than 73,000 people, mostly women and children, have flooded into a Syrian camp built for half that number.
By Erin Cunningham and Erin Cunningham Middle East reporter covering Iran, Turkey, Syria and the wider region Email Bio Follow Kamiran Sadoun April 2 at 6:45 PM AL-HOL, Syria — A humanitarian crisis is erupting in northeastern Syria as tens of thousands of people who fled intense fighting in last month’s decisive battle against the Islamic State are flooding into a desperately overcrowded tent camp atop a rocky hill here.
The al-Hol camp has dramatically increased in size in recent months to cope with new refugees as well as families of captured Islamic State fighters. Kurdish-led fighters — known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF — declared military victory over the Islamic State last month, following a brutal offensive to capture the militant group’s last foothold in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz. While that village was just a small sliver of the once-vast “caliphate,” there were an estimated 66,000 people still under the militants’ control there.
The United Nations this week announced an additional $4.3 million in funds for “lifesaving assistance” for al-Hol, including tents, blankets, personal hygiene items and other supplies for medical care. There are also plans to build at least one field hospital.“Please, look, my child is very sick. She needs to go to the hospital,” pleaded a veiled woman, Nazila Arkan, as she clutched her emaciated daughter.
“They are super angry because there’s no solution in sight,” the official said of the roughly 9,000 foreigners, who come from countries such as France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine. “It’s a big, ticking time bomb.”
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