Thousands stuck in the desert risk starvation

BEIRUT (AP):

Tens of thousands of Syrians stranded in a desert camp near the Jordanian border are at risk of starvation amid dwindling supplies and the approach of winter, while regional powers trade blame over who is responsible for this latest humanitarian catastrophe in Syria's civil war.

Desperately needed aid deliveries to the besieged Rukban camp have repeatedly failed or been postponed, including a UN convoy which was supposed to go in last Thursday but has now been indefinitely delayed.

The camp is home to around 45,000 people, many of them women and children, who are camped out in the open desert. At least four people have died in the past month, due to malnutrition and lack of medical care.

Sandstorms and heavy rains in recent weeks have left Rukban's tattered tents and clay houses in even worse shape. Imad Ghali, a camp resident, said this isn't the first time Rukban has been promised aid and not received it.

"It's like telling someone dying of thirst to wait for the rain," said Ghali. "How long are we going to wait?"

People started gathering in Rukban three years ago, fleeing Islamic State militants and airstrikes by the US-led coalition, Russia and Syria. Jordan sealed its border and stopped regular aid deliveries in 2016 after a cross-border IS attack that killed seven Jordanian soldiers.

The last aid delivery from Jordan was in January, leaving the camp's residents dependent on goods largely smuggled from government-held areas. The situation sharply deteriorated after the Syrian government blocked supply routes last month following a botched reconciliation deal with rebel groups in the area, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.