Russia Says UN Humanitarian Aid May Have Gotten into Hands of Syrian Militants

"On February 6-14, a special operation on delivering and distributing humanitarian aid from the UN and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent for displaced persons at the Rukban camp, located in the area unlawfully occupied by the US around Al-Tanf," she noted, according to TASS.

"The UN Secretariat is preparing a detailed report on the work they have carried out at the request of the Russian side. However, now we cannot rule out that a part of humanitarian cargo has gotten into the hands of local militant formations," Zakharova said.

"According to the information in our possession, the majority of the camp’s residents seen by the humanitarian employees did not look starving," the diplomat continued, adding, "There were no people with characteristic symptoms of illnesses caused by a long presence in the desert with no means for survival, despite what we have pictured before."

The spokeswoman noted that the majority of the camp’s residents wish to leave it, stressing that "this is why we find it a priority to immediately start the resettlement of the camp," she stressed.

"A Russian initiative has been launched in this area, according to which two humanitarian corridors have been opened on February 19 in order to ensure the civilians’ exit from the camp," she said, adding, "And, of course, we are deeply concerned over the US armed forces blocking the exit of displaced persons from the camp through these corridors, in violation of well-known humanitarian principles of the UN."

Earlier, a spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that refugees at the Rukban camp find themselves "in inhumane conditions", and urged to release at least women and children from the camp.

The Rukban refugee camp is located near the town of Al-Tanf in Homs province, 20 kilometers from a US military base, near which the American armed forces had earlier trained the militants of the Syrian opposition. In 2014, when Daesh terrorists began their invasion of Syria, tens of thousands of Syrians from the Eastern provinces fled to the Al-Tanf area hoping to cross into Jordan. However, the Jordanian authorities shut the border for security reasons as well as due to economic difficulties. This is how the Rukban refugee camp emerged. According to the World Health Organization, about 40,000 people currently live there.

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