afrinpost-Exclusive
Displaced residents from Afrin, forcibly relocated to the Shehba region in northern Aleppo, are enduring severe living conditions and a water crisis due to the cessation of water supply by UNICEF and the halt of relief aid from the Syrian Red Crescent Organization for over six months. This predicament unfolds amidst economic deterioration, with the Syrian Lira plummeting and the ongoing blockade imposed by checkpoints of the Fourth Division affiliated with the Syrian regime in the Shehba region.
Alif Mohammed, a member of the Joint Presidency of the Local Administration Authority, informed afrinpost that “UNICEF has cut off water to the camps in the Shehba region, prompting us to cease water pumping to joint military points with the Syrian regime and Russian forces to meet the camps’ needs.”
Mohammed further stated, “However, the available water does not suffice for the camps’ requirements. We resorted to digging wells, but unfortunately, their water turned out to be unfit for drinking, exacerbating our water crisis amidst the blockade we endure in the Shehba region.”
The Local Administration Authority and Municipalities condemned UNICEF’s decision to cut off water from Afrin’s displaced population in the Shehba region camps in northern Aleppo countryside. In a statement issued on February 22, they declared, “We, as the Local Administration Authority and on behalf of our people in the camps, denounce and condemn this decision, which constitutes a violation of human rights and humanitarian principles and does not serve the charters and laws upon which organizations are based. On the contrary, this decision only reminds us of what the fascist Turkish state did by cutting off water to our people in Al-Hasakah, and UNICEF’s decision supports these policies.”
The Authority called on relevant authorities to reconsider such decisions and to pressure UNICEF “to fulfill its moral and legal obligations towards this population.”
In another development, our correspondent reported that the Syrian Red Crescent Organization has ceased distributing relief aid and food rations for six months. The aid, which was distributed monthly to families residing in the camps, was later distributed every two months, then reduced to every three months, until it was ultimately discontinued.
