A delegation from residents of Deir Ezzor province met with Adnan Kesici, Turkish government official in charge of following up on the affairs of Syrian refugees to discuss the administrative, humanitarian and military situation in the province. The province has been witnessing heavy fighting between Russian-backed regime forces and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF0 to drive ISIS from the province. The meeting was also attended by Secretary-General of the Syrian Interim Government Hussein Bakri.
The delegation was chosen from those who participated in the workshop which was organized by the Syrian Coalition in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa on Sunday and Monday. Participants included representatives of civil and military bodies in the province.
Member of the Coalition’s political committee Okab Yahya said that a similar meeting was earlier held between a delegation from Deir Ezzor residents and the Turkish official in the Turkish city of Gaziantep. The delegation included four from those who participated in the workshop, including a woman.
Yahya pointed out that the meeting focused on two main issues, namely the urgent setting up of camps for the displaced in northern rural Aleppo and equipping them with the basic necessities as well as the securing of safe corridors for civilians to flee from the areas witnessing heavy fighting and the delivery of humanitarian aid to them.
Yahya pointed out that the meeting was very positive as he thanked the Turkish government for the assistance it is providing to the Syrian people and its efforts to alleviate their suffering.
Deir Ezzor province has been the site for fierce battles between regime forces and the Iranian militias backed by Russian aerial cover as well as the US-backed militias of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on one hand and ISIS on the other. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in indiscriminate aerial bombardment on residential areas, while tens of thousands more were forced to flee and seek refuge in camps erected in the desert that activists nicknamed “camps of death.” (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)