Freezing temperature kills 15 displaced Syrian kids

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) says at least eight internally displaced Syrian children have lost their lives because of freezing temperatures and the lack of medical care at a refugee camp in southwestern Syria over the past few weeks.

The UN children's agency said on Tuesday that the minors died as a result of cold and harsh living conditions at the desolate Rukban refugee camp near Syria's border with Jordan.

Seven more children were during displacement from the Daesh-held Hajin town in Syria’s troubled eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr.

“Freezing temperatures and harsh living conditions in Rukban... are increasingly putting children's lives at risk,” UNICEF regional director Geert Cappelaere said.

“In just one month, at least eight children -- most of them under four months and the youngest only one hour old -- have died," he said.

The top UN official noted that the cold in the isolated desert camp was increasing infant mortality.

“Families seeking safety face difficulties leaving the conflict zone and wait in the cold for days without shelter or basic supplies,” Cappelaere said. “The dangerous and difficult journey has reportedly killed seven children -- most of them under one-year-old” in Hajin.

“The lives of babies continue to be cut short by health conditions that are preventable or treatable. There are no excuses for this in the 21st century," Cappelaere said. “This tragic man-made loss of life must end now."

On Saturday, a Syrian mother has attempted to torch herself and her children to death in Rukban camp after she failed to find food for her family for three straight days.

Other refugees in the camp put out the fire, which damaged the tent, and evacuated the woman and her children to hospital. The woman and her infant were seriously hurt while the two other children suffered minor injuries.

The United Nations says about 45,000 people, mostly women and children, are trapped inside Rukban refugee camp.

This is while Geneva-based Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has put the number of refugees living there closer to 60,000.

Last October, the Britain-based so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said people in Rukban camp have been without access to food and humanitarian materials for several months.

The Observatory highlighted that the tough situation is coupled with a closed border by Jordan.

Jordan closed its border with Syria following an attack on its soldiers by Daesh Takfiri terrorists back in 2016. Earlier this week, however, Amman re-opened the Nasib border crossing with Syria for the first time in three years, as the crisis in Syria is gradually winding down thanks to the Syrian army’s decisive gains against terrorists.

The area where Rukban camp is located is controlled by the former US-backed Shuhada al-Qaryatayn militant group. The extremists were supposed to evacuate to Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib in accordance with a Russian-backed deal, but refused to do so.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the country.

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