BBC: Caucasian women disappear in conflict zone in Syria

The women-natives of Northern Caucasus, who had turned to Russian authorities asking to evacuate them from the conflict zone in Syria, has stopped communicating with their relatives.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that women-natives of Northern Caucasus with children, who stayed in a camp in Syria, expressed fear for their lives, after the start of the military operation by Turkish troops, and asked to evacuate them from the frontline zone, a relative of one of the women said on October 16. It follows from the posted audio messages addressed to Russian authorities that there are natives of Dagestan and Chechnya in the camp.

The women with their children, who had left the "Ain Issa" militants' camp, are not available on phone for more than a week. Since October 17, relatives have been trying to clear out their fates, the BBC Russian Service reported on October 25.

There are still no precise data on how many people had left the "Ain Issa" camp. According to the Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), foreign citizens, including Russians detained after the escape, were taken to the camps located in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, controlled by pro-Turkish forces.

There were about 12,000 people in the "Ain Issa", including about 1000 women and children from the families of the alleged militants of the "Islamic State", a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court. According to Kurdish authorities, on October 13, about 800 people escaped from the camp, the BBC Russian Service reported on October 13.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 26, 2019 at 04:28 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.