FEARS are growing for the safety and well-being of about 1000
Syrian Christians trapped in their village by intensive battles
between the country's armed forces and rebel fighters. Their
suffering comes against the background of a worsening civil
conflict in which, UN figures suggest, more than 60,000 people have
been killed, and 600,000 displaced.
Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic families that remain in the
village of Yaakoubieh, north of Aleppo, have been unable to leave,
because of the heavy fighting around them in recent days. Most of
the 3000 inhabitants have fled over recent months, but now an
estimated 1000 are trapped, in living conditions that are becoming
desperate. There is no electricity; and supplies of food and other
basics are running low, at a time of freezing temperatures.
A Roman Catholic friar in Beirut, Fr François Kouseiffi OFM
Cap., who has been helping to care for refugees from Yaakoubieh,
told the news agency Fides that the remaining villagers, including
Franciscan nuns, were "in a terrible condition, where they risk
extinction".
He said that the situation was "very serious. The faithful are
trapped. We are trying in every way to help them to come to
Lebanon." While emissaries had been sent to Aleppo, reaching the
village itself was still too dangerous.
At the end of last week, the refugee agency UNHCR said that it
was implementing measures to help more than 600,000 Syrians who
were awaiting registration as refugees in neighbouring countries,
and the figure was continuing to rise owing to poor weather. "The
severe winter conditions across Syria and the surrounding region
this past week have brought new difficulties for refugees and other
displaced people," a UNHCR spokesperson said. "Even with the winter
preparation work that has been done in recent months, many refugees
in both camp and non-camp situations are facing particularly cold
and damp conditions."
The UNHCR said that many of the refugees arriving in Jordan in
recent days were barefoot, and their clothing was covered in mud
and snow. They had discarded their belongings to carry their
children through flooded countryside. In Lebanon, UNHCR and its
partners are working to relieve the effects of floods on refugee
settlements and a warehouse housing refugees in Sidon.
On Monday, the UNHCR said that the number of Syrians taking
refuge in Turkey had risen to 153,300 - up three per cent since the
end of December. It said that the shortage of space in camps
continued to be the main challenge for local authorities. The
Nizip-2 camp, a container site with capacity for 5000 people, is
expected to open soon.
In addition to the danger from the fighting and the
deteriorating living conditions, another factor prompting Syrians
to flee their country is the fear of rape, the US-based
International Rescue Committee (IRC) says. In a report released on
Monday, it describes rape as "a significant and disturbing feature
of the Syrian civil war".
In the course of three IRC assessments in Lebanon and Jordan,
Syrians identified rape as a primary reason why their families fled
the country. "Many women and girls relayed accounts of being
attacked in public, or in their homes, primarily by armed men.
These rapes, sometimes by multiple perpetrators, often occur in
front of family members," the report states.
The IRC did not say whether the atrocities were being committed
by Syrian troops and the regime's Shabiha militia, or by members of
the Free Syria Army. But the likelihood is that both sides have
been guilty of the atrocities, and there are increasing reports of
the commission of human-rights abuses as much by opponents of the
regime as by supporters.