NewsHero (beta) - Aid Workers Report More Syrians Fleeing To Iraq
October 26, 2019 - Issue 3
Welcome to this week’s edition of NewsHero for October 26, 2019
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Aid Workers Report More Syrians Fleeing To Iraq
Refugee crisis grows amid cease-fire, children kept in ISIS prisons
Boys peered out from their crowded prison cell. Ivor Prickett/NY Times
According to aid workers operating in northern Iraq, the number of Syrians fleeing over the border is growing. On a recent day, the Norwegian Refugee Council reported 1,736 Syrians crossed into Iraq. Most of them they said “are children, women and elderly people in a huge state of physical and psychological distress.”
Many have resorted to high-priced smugglers to get them across the border to refugee camps, while other costs may be encountered by some. Khalsa Aid founder Ravinder Singh said his team went to the border this week to offer food and water to refugees lining up. According to Singh there were several rogue soldier and armed militia groups that he said were “taxing them to cross.”
It’s estimated that more than 7,140 have entered into Iraq since the start of Turkey’s incursion. Aid groups and the UN are planning for up to 50,000 in the coming months.
More than 166,000 Syrians have been forced from their homes so far, and the need for assistance is rapidly increasing. Aid group Preemptive Love said “Our Syrian team has run out of food.” A statement posted on the group’s website reported, “We’re on the ground. Our mobile clinics are providing urgent medical care, and our teams are feeding thousands. But the need is enormous.”
President Trump announced this week that conditions were met for what he called a “permanent cease-fire,” and that the U.S. is lifting sanctions on Turkey that were implemented following the invasion. Speaking at the White House, Trump said that while a “permanent cease-fire” will be tough to maintain, he hopes it will last.
In other news this week in Syria, Turkey’s invasion has reportedly led to the escape of more than 100 ISIS prisoners, while children of ISIS detainees are left in prison cells of their own to wonder their fate.
A Syrian Kurdish man in his 30s set himself on fire outside the UN refugee agency headquarters in Geneva. He was airlifted to a hospital in Lausanne for treatment.
Russian strikes at a Syrian rebel stronghold are raising fears of an offensive by the Assad regime.
President Trump sent $4.5 million in aid to the Syrian Civil Defense, a volunteer organization known as the White Helmets operating in parts of Syria and Turkey.
It was reported Thursday that the Pentagon may order tanks and soldiers to eastern Syria, marking the first time tanks have been deployed there. U.S. officials said the tanks would come from a unit already deployed to the Middle East.
And finally, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a group of U.S. lawmakers on a surprise visit to Jordan to discuss "the deepening crisis" in Syria amid the cease-fire. The visit came as parties on both sides have criticized President Trump for his withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria.
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