MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/. The number of cases when militants recruit teenagers from the Syrian Rukban camp has considerably grown over the past month, according to a joint statement made by heads of the interdepartmental coordination headquarters of Russia and Syria Mikhail Mizintsev and Hussein Makhlouf on Wednesday.
"According to the relevant UN structures, despite the withdrawal of more than 16,000 Syrian citizens from Rukban, the situation in the camp is rapidly deteriorating. It is due to the fact that most of those who managed to leave this ‘death camp’ are teachers, medical workers and small entrepreneurs who organized food sale, and after they had left violence and children’s mortality grew in the camp. Besides, the number of cases of recruiting teenagers by different armed groups soared during the past month," the document says.
The heads of the coordination headquarters expressed serious concerns over the reduction in the number of refugees leaving Rukban as caused by the strive of US-controlled criminal groups staying there to keep "human shield" in the person of the camp residents as long as possible. "For this purpose, the militants are constantly increasing prices for people’s access through the 55-km-long Al-Tanf zone to the Jleb crossing point. We expect the United Nations to provide more assistance in the implementation of practical moves for Rukban’s resettlement. Everything is ready for it on the part of Syria’s government," the statement says.
The Syrian administration guarantees security to returning citizens as well as observance of the world organization’s requirements for their orderly settlement. "We call on the American side to observe human rights and insist on urgent moves to provide free access for the camp’s residents," the document says.
The Rukban camp was established on the Syrian-Jordanian border in 2014 after Amman had closed the border out of security concerns. Illegal armed groups control the neighboring region, which led to a tough humanitarian situation in the camp.