27 Children Have Died from Harsh Conditions of al-Houl Camp in Hasaka

TEHRAN (FNA)- Over two dozen Syrian children have died as a result of deteriorating conditions in al-Houl Camp run by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), media sources said.

“At least 27 children have lost their lives in February alone due to the lack of hygene at hospitals and refugee camps in Northeastern Hasaka,” the Arabic-language Al-Manar television news network reported.

It noted that the 27 children all lived in al-Hawl refugee Camp in Hasaka, and added, “They have been transferred from Eastern Deir Ezzur to this region and died of malnutrition and cold weather.”

In a relevant development last Thursday, the media activists reported that tens of refugees had died of shortages in a camp controlled by the SDF in Hasaka province.

Media activists reported that only in one day, 7 children and 2 women had died due to lack of medical and treatment possibilities in al-Hawl refugee camp in Hasaka.

They added that nearly 14,000 families, consisting of 47,000 people, are living in the camp under an acute shortage of food, drugs and hygiene aids, warning that the children are in critical conditions.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced last Wednesday that 73 Syrian refugees have died in al-Hawl camp in the past few months, adding that two third of them are children.

At least 29 children and newborns are reported to have died over the past eight weeks, mainly from hypothermia, while travelling to the camp or shortly after arrival, the WHO said in a statement early February.

It said about 23,000 people, mainly women and children fleeing hostilities in rural areas of neighboring Deir Ezzur, had reached the camp over that period.

Displaced Syrian people sheltering in al-Hawl camp earlier staged massive rallies over the death of tens of children.

Field sources from Hasaka province reported that the rallies were held to protest at SDF’s incapability to supply the needs of the displaced community sheltered in the camp.

The camp population is suffering lack of basic needs and commodities, hygiene and cold which have led to the death of at least 36 children so far, the locals said.