TADMOR (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th July, 2020) Militants demand a ransom from Rukban camp residents who wish to leave the territory and return home, Syrian refugee Durzi Diana Ali, who managed to flee the facility, has said.
"When President [Bashar] Assad ordered the creation of a corridor to Syria, we left immediately, or rather after we managed to collect the money that militants demanded for the exit - 60,000 [Syrian] Pounds [$48] for each member of our family. We were well received [upon the return from the refugee camp] and were assisted to settle in Syria. We returned to Tadmor," Ali told reporters.
According to Ali, conditions at the Rukban camp are terrible, and its residents would like to leave it.
"We fled to the Rukban camp when Palmyra was captured by the Islamic state [terrorist group, banned in Russia]. The standard of living there was simply terrible, we survived only through humanitarian aid. We lived in a tent even in a rainy season, and it was very difficult. We have been there for almost three years," he added.
The Rukban camp was set up on the Syrian-Jordanian border in 2014, after Amman shut the border due to security concerns. The camp lies within the US-controlled zone around the At Tanf military base, with militants operating in adjacent areas. All this makes it hard for humanitarian workers to access the facility.
Last year, the Russian reconciliation center and the Syrian government helped evacuate over 19,000 refugees of those wishing to leave Rukban. The evacuation of those remaining is dragging on.
