750 aid trucks entered Rojava to support displaced

More than 750 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid have reached the Rojava region via the Semalka border crossing since the crisis escalated following the attacks launched by factions of the Syrian Interim Government on January 6 and then January 17. These attacks resulted in the displacement of more than 300,000 people from Afrin, Shahba, Tabqa, Raqqa, and the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods of Aleppo.

The displaced have been housed in shelters; schools, mosques, and other locations, as well as in homes within the cities of the Jazira region under difficult humanitarian conditions prompted a widespread response from charitable organizations and institutions in Southern and Northern Kurdistan and Europe, under the supervision and coordination of the Kurdish Red Crescent, the Afrin and Shahba Displaced Persons Affairs Council, and the region's administration.

The volume and nature of assistance:

The aid included food supplies, blankets, hygiene and sanitation materials, cleaning supplies, as well as baby necessities such as milk, diapers, medicine, medical equipment, and heating supplies, in addition to hot meals provided in several shelters, and mobile clinics established to meet the essential health and medical needs of displaced patients.

Among the organizations that contributed to providing support; the Barzani Charity Foundation, the Kirkuk Charity Foundation, VIM Organization, the Kurdish Position Bloc, community aid collected from various areas of Southern Kurdistan, the International Red Cross, the Holost Bloc, Channel 8, Rudaw TV, the Rojava Organization, Blument, Partner, Kurdish Doctors in Germany, the Hana Organization, Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations (UN), and the Kurdish America Center.

Additionally, $80,000, donated by residents of the Khurmatu area in Southern Kurdistan, was distributed at a rate of $50 per family, benefiting 1,600 displaced families.

This aid has helped to cover the basic needs of the displaced and alleviate their living burdens, given that many of them lost their sources of income and property during the displacement.

In this context, Subhi Hanna Hanna, 42 years old, a displaced resident of Afrin from Tabqa, spoke about his experience after being displaced, saying, "When we arrived on the road, I was beaten and humiliated by the factions on the Sabah al-Khair road in the Hasaka countryside. They took all the money remained with me and my mobile phone."

Subhi Hanna added, "When we arrived in Qamishlo, organizations came to provide aid, but we are not comfortable. We want to return to Afrin." He indicated that the aid was sufficient in terms of covering basic needs, explaining, "The aid covered our needs and greatly reduced our expenses."

However, he pointed out the disparity in the financial support provided among some of the shelters, saying, "Some schools received sums of money, but we in this school received nothing."

Subhi Hanna emphasized that their primary demand is to return to their homes, saying, "We need to return to Afrin; we don't need anything else."

Furthermore, under the current circumstances, the campaign to send humanitarian aid to the region continues, amid efforts to secure the basic needs of the displaced and alleviate their suffering until solutions that guarantee their safe return to their areas are found.

ANHA