On Wednesday, the Save the Children organization warned that thousands of children living in the camps for the displaced in northeastern Syria, following their evacuation from the final pocket of land still under the control of the Islamic State (ISIS) are suffering from “psychological distress” and that many of them are in need of long-term treatment to recover.
The non-governmental organization, concerned with aiding children, has staff in the al-Hol camp for displaced people. It said that “children are showing signs of psychological distress, including nervousness, withdrawal, aggression, nightmares and bedwetting, especially among children aged 10 to 14 years old.”
These symptoms are connected to the monstrous acts that they have endured and which were carried out by ISIS in the areas under its control, in addition to the deprivation they have suffered and the bombardment they experienced that targeted the last ISIS pocket.
The al-Hol camp is sheltering thousands of displaced people, including children, who fled the ongoing fighting between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and ISIS. The NGO has set up places to entertain children as well as centers to shelter dozens of unaccompanied children.
Sonia Khush, the operations director in the organization, warned that “there is still much to do to assist these children in recovery,” and called for the repatriation of foreign children to their countries of origin.
The organization says that more than 2,500 foreign children belonging to 30 countries are currently living in three displaced camps in northeastern Syria, as well as tens of thousands of other displaced people fleeing the fighting.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
