UN: 84 die while fleeing Daesh in Syria

By Bayram Altug

GENEVA (AA) - At least 84 people fleeing Daesh-held areas in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor have died since last December either en route or shortly after arriving at the al-Hol camp, according to a UN official on Friday.

“The UN in Syria remains gravely concerned about the plight of thousands of civilians fleeing the last [Daesh]-held areas of Al-Baghouz in rural Deir-Ez-Zor governorate after intense hostilities in the area,” Jens Laerke, spokesman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told reporters in Geneva.

Laerke said “175 children have been hospitalized due to medical complications from severe acute malnutrition,” citing reports from UN agencies and aid groups.

Some 13,000 people, 90 percent women and children, have arrived at the al-Hol camp in Al Hassakeh Governorate in the last week alone, he said, adding that many are “exhausted, hungry and sick.

“Since December 2018, approximately 45,000 people have fled the Hajin and Al-Baghouz areas of Deir-ez-Zor and arrived at Al Hol camp," he said.

Large numbers of people continue to arrive at the site on a daily basis, which is now operating above capacity.

Daesh now controlled 2 percent of the Syrian territory after it lost the area east of the Euphrates.

But some 28 percent of Syrian lands are under YPG/PKK’s occupation.

Regime forces control 60 percent of the country, while the military opposition and anti-regime armed groups control 10 percent of the Syrian territory.

Ankara has repeatedly criticized the U.S. for supplying weapons to the terrorist YPG/PKK for fighting the Daesh terror group, arguing that using one terrorist group to fight another makes no sense.

In its 30-year terrorist campaign, the PKK has taken some 40,000 lives, including women and children. The YPG is its Syrian branch.