Satellite images show razed villages in Idlib, SyriaExBulletin

Nearly a million people have been displaced since December in Idlib following the military campaign against the Western campaigns and the advancement of the Syrian regime.

Alliance Anas Alkharboutli / dpa / photo via Getty

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Alliance Anas Alkharboutli / dpa / photo via Getty

In Idlib, the last rebel bastion of the civil war in Syria that has lasted for almost ten years, air strikes have razed villages and displaced populations are forced to enter increasingly small areas, as their camps mount soaring and overtake agricultural land, according to a new satellite image revealed.

The province was attacked by Syrian and Russian forces in an offensive that started last year.

New images published by Save the Children and World Vision show the scale of the destruction in the northwest province, where the United Nations reports that almost a million people have been displaced in the past three months, mostly women and children.

Since the conflict began in 2011, it has been "the largest forced displacement since the start of the Syrian crisis," State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus said earlier this week. Three in four people in Syria have been forcibly displaced since the start of the conflict, according to Save the children.

The level of destruction in Idlib means that the displaced have little to complain about when the fighting finally stops, aid workers say.

Satellite images released by Save the Children show an undisclosed area in Idlib province in July 2018 (top), and after an apparent aerial bombardment in May 2019.

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"The amount of damage in a single area makes it very difficult for people to be able to return to it," said Amjad Yamin, spokesperson for Save the Children & # 39; s Syria Response. "I don't know what they can go back to when you see an entire village, there is nothing left. There is no civil infrastructure. There is no more school. No hospital. "

"We are currently examining three million people who live in an area that does not have the infrastructure to support them," said Yamin.

The images were released on the eve of talks on the Syrian crisis between Turkish and Russian leaders. Turkey is search for a cease-fire in the regionand Russia supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

For years, civilians fleeing violence in other parts of Syria have come to Idlib. The region had around 1.5 million people when the war started nine years ago and now has about 3 million, said Yamin. But they came under fire in a Syrian government offensive that began in April 2019, as the Assad government attempted to defeat its opponents after regaining control of many other regions of the country.

These civilians are unable to enter neighboring Turkey, which has closed its border. Yamin says his organization has met families who have fled the violence several times as the fighting and airstrikes have changed direction.

"We met a family last week who said that in the past nine months alone – it's not the past nine years, the past nine months, they have been displaced more than 10 times across the region" he said. "I'm just trying to find safety for them and their children."

Some of the displaced children in Idlib died from the cold, says the UNand at least 100 civilians were killed by air and ground strikes last month.

Satellite images show rapid growth of camps for displaced populations. For example, in the images analyzed by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, a photo from September 2017 shows a small camp on the edge of a large empty space and an agricultural field.

A camp for displaced people in Idlib, shown in September 2017.

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In September 2018, the satellite image shows a previously empty space filled with small structures, in what the researchers say is likely to be a "spontaneous and spontaneous camp".

The same camp in Idlib showed signs of growth in September 2018.

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Finally, in December 2019, the structures almost fill the area. They are more robust than those of the previous year and the camp is much denser than before. The structures extend to areas that had been used to grow crops.

By December 2019, this camp had grown and become more densely occupied.

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Save the Children says that the area of ​​this particular camp doubled between September 2017 and December 2019. The rescue organization did not disclose the exact location of the images for the safety of people on the ground. ground.

"Quite simply, it is a large-scale humanitarian disaster," said Kelly Clements, of the United Nations. Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, says NPR All things Considered.

"We want to access, we want to bring more relief, and it's pretty difficult," she said. "Access is extremely difficult to achieve." The situation is dangerous for aid workers, many of whom are from this region and have themselves been displaced by violence.

This photo taken on March 2, 2020 shows plumes of smoke rising after aerial bombardment over the village of Balyun in the southern part of Idlib province in north-western Syria.

Omar Haj Kadour / AFP via Getty Images

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Omar Haj Kadour / AFP via Getty Images

Clements says humanitarian aid simply provides a "bandage" and that what is needed is a "political and diplomatic solution". She adds that "an immediate ceasefire is necessary, this is what will save the lives of babies who are dying today".

Earlier this week, the United States pledged more than $ 100 million to support humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people. According to Clements, money is essential, but "they need much more from international organizations and donors to be able to support these efforts".

The UN released a plan last month for northwestern Syria seeking half a billion dollars, in addition to a previous $ 2 billion plan for the interior of the Syria in order to continue protection and ongoing life-saving aid, said Clements. To date, this plan is only 9% funded by the international community.