On November 25, the civil council of the Syrian Rukban refugee camp located on the Syrian-Jordanian border started negotiations with the Syrian government to reach a reconciliation deal, according to the Syrian pro-opposition media outlet “Hammurabi’s Justice News”.
Hammurabi’s Justice News released a list of demands, which the Rukban Civil Council had sent to the Syrian government. In the list, the Rukban Civil Council asked the government to allow the refugees from the camp to return to their towns and villages.
The Rukban Civil Council also stressed in the document its support for the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and said that the refugees are ready to form a force to support the SAA once they are allowed back. Others demands include allowing the refugees to return to their jobs or universities.
The Syrian government will likely accept the Rukban Civil Council demands in the upcoming days, as all of these demands are logical and compatible with the Syrian laws.
Such a reconciliation deal between the Rukban Civil Council and the Damascus government will be another blow to the US-led coalition in the al-Tanaf base area. The coalition had claimed on many occasion that it was protecting the civilians in the camp.
Previously, Russia accused the US-led coalition of not allowing any humanitarian aid to enter the Rukban camp and said that the humanitarian situation in the camp was catastrophic.
From tis side, Mohanad Tala’a a commander of the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) group in al-Tanaf base denied the Russian accusations on November 25. He said that the aid didn’t enter the camp because “the UN is still studying the matter” according to the Russian state-run news agency Sputnik. However, the ongoing negotiations between the Rukban Civil Council and the Syrian government proved that Tala’a lied.
The Rukban refugee camp is hosting over 60,000 Syrian refugees from eastern Qalamun, Eastern Ghouta, Deir Ezzor, Raqqa and eastern Homs. Since 2014, the US-led coalition and the Syrian opposition have repeatedly claimed that these refugees are against the Syrian government. However the Rukban Civil Counicl said that these people only left their areas due to the battles.
