Small aid group among few assisting displaced Syrians in SDF-held north

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A US-based relief group and medical aid organization has recently been supplying humanitarian aid to civilians who have fled from the embattled Syrian city of Idlib to areas controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and have reportedly received little support from larger international organizations.

“The SDF are doing a very good job caring for these new arrivals and preparing for 5,000 more from Idlib but they need help especially for food and winter clothes,” said David Eubank, leader of the group known as the Free Burma Rangers (FBR), to Kurdistan 24. In late December, SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi announced that those fleeing the fighting in Idlib were welcome in northeastern Syria.

According to information supplied by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, between Dec. 1, 2019 to Feb. 2, 2020, some 586,000 people fled from their homes in Idlib and other areas in northwest Syria as a result of ongoing hostilities between the Syrian government and Syrian opposition groups.

So far 1,000 have fled Idlib to SDF-controlled areas in Manbij, Raqqa, and Tabqa following the call of the SDF leader, FBR said in a statement. 

However, the relief organization said there are critical shortages of food and medicine for the new arrivals.

In mid-January, a decision by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to restrict the number of border crossings that can be used to bring aid to northeastern Syria was widely seen as an attempt by Russia to limit assistance to the area in support of Damascus. 

Read More: Syrian Kurds criticize UN decision limiting humanitarian aid to Syria 

Since then, as difficult winter weather conditions have worsened, so has the situation for families who have fled their homes.

“On Feb. 8 and in the middle of a snowstorm, our team delivered a two-week supply of food to the 21 new families of around 200 people,” read an FBR statement.

According to the organization, there is now a new camp being built some 27 kilometers south of Manbij to house the new arrivals.

FBR has said it has been one the few relief organizations to recently assist thousands of displaced civilians after Turkey and Turkish-backed groups attacked northern Syria in October, displacing over 300,000 civilians.

One of the group’s members, cameraman and medic Zau Seng, was killed in a Turkish mortar attack near Tal Tamr in November. 

Read More: Volunteer from US relief group killed in Syria by Turkish mortar attack 

Following the death of their team member, the SDF Commander-in-Chief met with the FBR representatives to thank them for their efforts and expressed his condolences to the family of Seng.
The last FBR mission left northeastern Syria in early December but a team returned in late January team returned. 

“We came back because we love the people here and because they were betrayed [when the US did not stop Turkey from attacking] and to help in any way we can - we are small but stand with them,” Eubank told Kurdistan 24. 

He also praised the efforts of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to facilitate assistance to organizations that “want to help the displaced,” specifically lauding the work of the Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF).

The BCF and the Kurdish Red Crescent have reported that they have recently been nearly alone in providing assistance to large numbers of displaced citizens being largely neglected by international aid organizations. 

Read More: Kurdistan Region aid organization assists neglected north Syrian IDPs 

Eubank said that, in the last 10 days, FBR has been able to help displaced people in both Hasaka and Ain al-Issa and have also helped to rebuild an Armenian Church in Raqqa.

“We will do a bit more in Manbij and then go to Kobane and then any other areas of need.”

Editing by John J. Catherine