Infant Girl Dies due to Malnutrition and Man Commits Suicide as Living Conditions Deteriorate in Idlib’s Camps

In December 2018, a newborn girl, seven-month-old, died due to malnutrition, and a man committed suicide, unable to meet his family’s needs. The infant’s family and that of the man are both displaced from eastern rural Hama, residing in camps short of life’s basic necessities, where they do suffer living conditions that can be called the worst.

The field researcher of Syrians for Truth and Justice/STJ visited several random camps, allocated to people displaced from eastern rural Hama, which have been erected in the Maarrat al-Nu'man region, southern Idlib, in a previous time. The researcher monitored the inflating humanitarian and healthcare conditions, while all sorts of aid seem to be lacking. These camps are run by the so called the “IDP’s Affairs,” which is affiliated with the “Salivation Government.” 

Yassin al-Hussian, the father of the newborn girl, who died due to malnutrition, based in the al-Naser camp, to the south of al-Qah town, recounted to STJ’s field researcher the suffering of his dead infant daughter. He said:

 “My daughter, Maryam, was seven months old; she died due to malnutrition, according to Turkish doctors’ diagnosis. At two months, she developed malnutrition and started to lose weight, because her mother was unable to breastfeed her, and I could not afford to buy her formula milk- the price of a single can is two thousand Syrian pounds, while no medical or relief organization responded to the baby’s condition. When her health worsened, I took her to a hospital in the border city of Atmeh. There, a doctor immediately referred her to a hospital in the Turkish city of Antakya. On December 15, 2018, she died, after a month’s attempt at treating her, as the doctors failed to deal with her poor health.”

Yassin al-Hussain added that he is a father to eight children, the oldest of whom is 12-year-old. He failed to find a job to help him support his family, and, just like thousands of the displaced people, he suffers from cruel conditions in the camp, where heating means and healthcare are lacking, while water, electricity and a sewage system are missing.

In a no less tragic incident, a man, displaced from the village of al-Jaduiyaat, eastern Hama, to the al-Na’ura camp, near the village of Benin in Idlib, shut himself to death with a rifle, unable to meet his family’s needs. Concerning the incident, Khalid al-Hwayan, the camp’s official, told STJ’s field researcher the following:

 “On December 4, 2018, the displaced man Mousa Ali al-Elaiwi killed himself in his tent, using a Kalashnikov rifle, after his children left to the educational tent, and his wife went to get bread. His father, living in the adjacent tent, heard shots. He entered Mousa’s tent to find the bits of his head spreading in the tent, and his body lying on the ground. The place where the bullet ended showed that he fixed the rifle on the ground and directed the barrel down his neck, which blew his head off. On his relatives’ demand, the news was not reported until ten days passed.”

Al-Hwayan explained that Mousa al-Elaiwi was a wealthy man, the owner of massive lands and livestock, and, due to the battles in his village, he lost the money and livestock and was forcibly displaced with his family. He settled in the al-Na’ura camp late 2017.

A few days before Mousa al-Elaiwi’s suicide, his wife noticed that his mind was distracted and that he spent a long time by himself. He always reflected on the state he reached and his family’s conditions. After the incident, Mousa’s brother adopted his children financially, and despite this double fold suffering, the family did not receive any aid or attract the attention of the humanitarian organizations, according to the camp’s official.

On a related note, STJ monitored the inflating living conditions in Idlib and Aleppo’s camps, in addition to the al-Rukban camp, where it recorded cases of malnutrition, acute diarrhea, cold-related deaths and lack of healthcare, given the near-total absence of the humanitarian organizations’ role. [1]