Coalition provides $1.2 million in coronavirus equipment to anti-ISIS forces in northeast Syria

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The US-led Coalition against the Islamic State has provided some $1.2 million worth of supplies for prevention efforts in northeast Syria to combat the new coronavirus, formally designated as COVID-19.

Local authorities in the area administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), face a radical lack of medical supplies to deal with the health crisis.

The Coalition said in a statement issued on Friday that the medical equipment, which it provided on March 27, will help protect staff at hospitals in Hasakah and Shaddadi, as well as the SDF itself. That includes the guards responsible for detention camps which hold over 10,000 captured fighters of the terrorist organization.

The new coronavirus has posed an enormous challenge even to countries with highly sophisticated health systems, such as Spain and Italy, and even to certain parts of the US, like New York City.

There is great concern as to what will happen, as COVID-19 spreads to countries with poor health infrastructure and to conflict zones, such as Syria, where health facilities are lacking and refugees and displaced persons are living in crowded camps.

The Voice of America reported earlier this week that a medical catastrophe could ensue, if the prisoners held by the SDF became infected with the deadly virus, due to a lack of equipment and other supplies.

On March 30, Islamic State fighters attempted to escape from an SDF-jail in Hasakah city, which holds 3,000 to 5,000 people. The following day, however, the SDF announced that it had re-established control over the situation and that no prisoners had escaped.

The crucial question of what to do with the Islamic State prisoners held by the SDF is long-standing and unresolved. The SDF has proposed holding trials on its territory. However, Washington has rejected the idea. It wants European countries to take back their nationals, even as few have done so, concerned that the evidence against them may not match the legal standard for a conviction.

Yet one of the risks in the western failure to address this issue is that some unforeseen event could lead to the escape and dispersal of those fighters now in SDF custody.

Col. Myles B. Caggins III, Spokesman for the US-led Coalition, formally known as Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Resolve (CJTF-OIR), told Kurdistan 24 that since 2015, the Coalition has contributed over $1 billion—exclusively for anti-Islamic State aid—to the SDF. 

“The entire world is focused on preventing the spread of COVID-19,” Caggins said. “The Coalition’s donation of medical supplies and personal protective equipment will help keep medical staff and guards of ISIS detainees safe from Coronavirus, while they complete their important duties.”

“Life is stressful for many people across the world and northeastern Syria,” he continued. “This contribution represents the Coalition’s commitment to keeping families in Hasakah and Deir ez Zor safe from ISIS and COVID-19.”

The supplies include personal protective equipment, such as latex gloves and masks, as well as surgical kits, defibrillators, and oximeters (which measure oxygen levels.) They were provided to hospitals and detention facilities across the Hasakah and Shaddadi area.

Additionally, detention facilities received riot gear for guard forces, including masks, shields, and batons.

This year, the US Defense Department designated $200 million for support to the SDF, specifically for its mission against the Islamic State.

The State Department is also providing emergency health and humanitarian assistance to Syria. On March 27, as the Coalition began providing such assistance to the SDF, the State Department announced that it was providing $16.8 million in emergency health and humanitarian assistance for Syria, part of a $274 million package to help countries worldwide deal with COVID-19.

Kurdish authorities in Syria have already taken measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic to their region, where the health system has been severely damaged and overtaxed by almost a decade of civil war. On March 23, a full, indefinite curfew was imposed in the northeast of Syria to prevent the spread of the virus.

Furthermore, last year 40 percent of the medical supplies used in SDF-run areas have been cut. In December, Russia and China vetoed the provision of aid coming from Iraq through the Yaroubiyeh border crossing. The US has called for the restoration of the cross-border deliveries. 

Robin Fleming, a Syria-based researcher at the Rojava Information Center, told Kurdistan 24 that the northeast of Syria is in desperate need of more supplies.

“According to what we have heard, there is approximately one ventilator per 100,00 people,” she said. Some 460,00 people have only irregular access to water, while there are no functioning machines that test PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), a test that helps determine whether someone has COVID-19, while there are only 35 beds in intensive care units.

“Hopefully some of these supplies will, or have made, their way to Northeast Syria, but the need is so great I am certain there is still a necessity for more external aid,” she affirmed.

So far there have been no reported cases of the virus in the northeast of Syria, while the Syrian regime has reported only ten cases.

However, those figures are subject to question. because of a lack of testing and the broader political circumstances.

In particular, Iran has been the epicenter of the coronavirus in the Middle East, because of its close ties to China, where the virus originated.

It is widely believed that COVID-19 has spread significantly in countries where a lot of Iranians are present and where there is significant traffic to and from Iran. That would certainly include Syria, which is closely allied with Iran.

Editing by Laurie Mylroie