Syrian refugees set to spend yet another Ramadan away from home

IDLIB, Syria – Syrian refugees displaced by Bashar al Assad’s attacks taking shelter in camps in the Idlib province will once again be observing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan away from their homes.

Syrian refugees are entering the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, with financial difficulties as a result of their displacement from home and work in the wake of the Syrian civil war.

Rising food prices and unemployment has exacerbated their plight as they yearn to return to their homes which they had left behind due to the Assad regime’s relentless attacks.

Refugees in Idlib camps await assistance to be able to observe the Muslim holy fast in the month of Ramadan.

Cemile al Ala, who was displaced by the regime’s intense airstrikes three years ago and took refuge in the Azraq camp north of Idlib said that there are no job opportunities and that families in the region are suffering from a lack of resources.

Um Ala, a 64-year-old mother of six, lamented: “I owned a lot of property in the village. I had money and was free to eat whatever I wanted. Now we have nothing.”

Mentioning that they had to leave their village due to constant attacks by the regime forces, she said: “Ramadan here is not like Ramadan in the village. It’s hard to make a living here.”

“Families don’t have enough money to buy bread. We don’t have any money to spend,” she shared.

Fatima Omar, another of the displaced civilians, stated: “In our village, Ramadan was pleasant. My siblings were quite close to me. We were all living in the same house.”

She emphasized how “tough” it is to get along in the camp, saying: “The men and women in the camp are unable to find work.

“It has started to get hot before summer comes… (and) we can’t sit in a tent,” she expressed her displeasure, asking international donors to provide them with briquette housing support.

Referring to the difficult living conditions, she said: “Ramadan has arrived. Everything is very expensive. People can hardly buy one loaf of bread.”

Khalid Hamud described the life in the tent as challenging, adding, “In the village, we had a house, water, and electricity.”

Ahmed al-Ahmed, who stressed that Ramadan was more beautiful in the village, also said that his tents were flooded in the winter and that the weather is extremely hot in the summer.

He stated: “We had property, but we had to emigrate. Life is very difficult here.

“The bazaar is far away, (and) we don’t have the means to travel there. We can’t be sheltered from the rain or the heat in the tent,” he complained.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 6.7 million people have been internally displaced, while at least 14 million civilians in Syria are in need of humanitarian assistance.