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D24 exclusive:
A testimony by a survivor of the death and siege in Daesh-held areas, about the catastrophic conditions of the besieged civilians by the SDF and the international coalition.
Abu Ahmad said:
“My family, I, and a group of besieged families decided to flee the town of Al-Baghuz because of the intensive shelling, the approaching death in all its forms, and the siege that caused a tragic situation and drew a circle of darkness on our lives, so when there was a pause in shelling, we heard the cries of children from hunger and fear.”
And he added:
“The situation there is very bad, only God knows how bad it is, the heavy shelling, lack of food, and the lack of drinking water, there were no hospitals or clinics anymore, hunger has prevailed along with the extreme fear and constant horror as a result of the intensive bombardment on Al-Baghuz and its villages.”
He continued:
“The price of meat in Al-Baghuz rose to 15,000 SYP per one kilogram and was not always available, wheat “flour” was 7,000 SYP; and barley was 3000 SYP, so the people who did not have money remained hungry, and some of them ended up eating leaves and grass to survive, and among the cases I encountered on our journey out of Al-Baghuz was a woman with her three children whom we found lost in the desert during their escape and they were without food for three days, and another woman happened to go into labor during the escape journey, so women gathered around her to cover her from men until she gave birth, because there were no shelter or even a tent to cover her.
Abu Ahmed concluded saying:
The road to flee the death was fraught with danger, as the shells were pouring down on us from each side, and the warplanes were not leaving the sky of the area, in addition to the mines which were scattered about in our way out, we managed to reach the Badiya and were out of danger after many hours of walking, then reached the desert with its bitter cold and harsh atmosphere, where we spent four nights of fear, cold and hunger, which we will never forget, and eventually we made it to the areas controlled by the SDF.