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As Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces advance into southern Syria, the flow of refugees fleeing to Israel has increased. Thousands of them, crammed into trucks hitting the roads leading to the Golan border fence, were perceived as the safest zone, which Russia and the Assad regime would hesitate to bomb. According to United Nations figures released earlier this week, some 11,000 civilians have fled into the area. But aid groups and local residents say the number has exploded following shelling of population centers in the southern part of Daraa province.
Dozens of Syrian Golan refugees and residents told Haaretz on several occasions that they were waiting for Israel to protect those fleeing for their lives and that it was increases its assistance to IDP camps that collapse under the charge. Many refugees sleep under the stars and have received no help from humanitarian aid organizations.
The family of Abu Khaled (he asked that his full names and those of his wife not be published) fled after their western city of Daraa, Jasim, was bombed by Russian and Syrian planes . His family, like many others, could not afford the $ 50 a day to rent a car – almost a month 's salary in Syria, where most people are unemployed because of the collapse of the economy and civil war.
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A friend of the family agreed to drive them for free. Thirteen family members and 12 neighbors crammed themselves into a dented vehicle with their meager possessions and headed for the border.
"Everyone in Jasim is now fleeing for fear of Russian oppression, Iranian gangs and the regime [Assad’s]," said Abu Khaled, a former parable repairer, as his family prepared for his trip . His wife, Umm Khaled, mother of 11 children in his 50s, added, "Our feelings are indescribable, fear and terror, children have not stopped crying since the bombings, they are not silent for a second. "
Abu Khaled said that they decided to head to the Israeli border "because it is the safest there." It is a demilitarized zone, according to international agreements, and the regime and its allies can not attack it with their planes. "
The relative protection of the border area is a key consideration for the people of southern Syria at this time. Manar (loan name), a 42-year-old single woman, was uprooted from her home in Daraa in 2015, when foreign Shiite militias and Assad forces took over the city. Now, she is in a nearby town that is being held by rebel forces, but residents are negotiating for her surrender to the regime.
Manar tells Haaretz that she had been trying to decide between fleeing with her wounded brother to the Jordanian or Israeli border. "I want to flee to the border area, because there are international peacekeeping forces out there, so we can seek their protection," said Manar as his reason for deciding to head to Israel. She added that if regime forces damaged the roads to Israel, she and her brother would head to Jordan.
In 2014, Manar was imprisoned for six months and tortured for being opposed to the regime. The regime forces killed one of his brothers and another was wounded in fighting with the Free Syrian Army. "What a terrible pain, how did we lose so quickly, in a week, what we sacrificed so much to do for eight years," she said.
One of the main refugee destinations is Rafid, in the central Golan Heights, in the south of the country. In recent years, the city has hosted refugees from all over Southern Syria fleeing the regime's bombing raids. Refugees live in camps and with local families. Now, thousands of other refugees are converging on the small town. Abu Omar, a resident of Rafid, said: "The residents have opened their homes to the refugees, the houses are completely full, there are at least five families in each home, the refugees are along the border with the Golan Heights. No humanitarian organization can cope with the families here, the numbers are huge, the situation is terrible, it's the day of judgment. "
Massive bombing and mass theft of uprooted people created chaos, and many people lost touch with their loved ones because of the collapse of telephone systems in the area. The people of Quneitra, just beyond the border with the Israeli heights of the Golan, have been using Israeli cell phone networks for years. Now they are overloaded, presumably because of the surge in traffic. Those who have fled Daraa with a SIM card can not make calls from areas near the Israeli Golan Heights.
The head of a humanitarian organization receiving help from Israel said that among the chaotic masses of people in the camps, he saw children walking around alone, crying. His attempts to find their parents failed. He said that Israel was the first to pay attention to the wave of uprooted people, sending diesel fuel, which people are using to pump water from wells in the area. On Thursday night, Israel sent 300 tents and baby food, clothes, shoes and food to the border camps. But the help is not enough for the thousands of Syrians gathered in the area. "Refugees suffer from a lack of all basic needs," said the head of the organization in Haaretz. "Some non-governmental organizations have given what they can, but all that has been given is not enough." People have not been safe. there is no toilet for women, "he added.
In September 2014, during the bombardment of villages in the demilitarized zone, local residents trying to enter Israel were turned back. Conversations with residents of southern Syria in recent years have revealed that many of them believe that Israel will not let them in, while others expect it to happen. Israel will do this if the regime continues to move towards the border.
"Civilians demand Israel to protect them, or to annex the remaining area [under rebel control] to Israel," said the head of the humanitarian organization. He described how, in the past, some local people have treated him negatively as a collaborator with Israel, while Israel is now seen as the only entity to provide protection and assistance to Syrians.
The refugees themselves said that they wanted the Israelis to know that they were seeking peace. On Thursday, dozens of them demonstrated in front of the border fence with the Israeli heights of the Golan Heights. They called on Israel to protect them and waved signs that they were safe. Some signs said, "We are not terrorists, we are a people who want to live in peace," and "after 40 years, we realize that our real enemies are the terrorists Bashar Assad, Iran and Hezbollah. ".
Elizabeth Tsurkov is a researcher at the Israeli Forum for Regional Thinking, focusing on Syria.
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