In a Desperate Syrian City, a Test of Trump’s Policies
This is keeping people from coming back in." The Tabqa operation was proposed in mid-March to Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the commander of the American-led task force
that is battling the Islamic State, by the top commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the combination of Syrian Kurds and Arab fighters who would provide the ground troops for the battle.
"We need psychological assistance for the kids in school and to teach them the real way of living." JUNE 30, 2017
The Americans said that they were ready to provide desks and chalkboards, but
that the Tabqa council should direct requests to the United Nations International Children’s Fund, when the United Nations finally reaches the town.
Al Dwyer said that Basically, what you’ve got here is hundreds, if not thousands, of bodies in the
rubble, which is causing a lot of flies, the flies are biting kids, the kids are getting infected,
As Mr. McGurk, the president’s special envoy, was meeting with the new Tabqa Civil Council, a leader of the body made an impassioned plea
for help deprogramming the town’s children, who have not attended normal schools since the Islamic State took control of the area.
Then, laughing about his new freedom to openly denounce the militants, he said, "If they ever come back, they will slaughter all of us." Life is slowly returning to the streets
of Tabqa, a city of about 100,000 strategically positioned just 30 miles west of Raqqa, the capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
But nearly two months after the Islamic State was driven off by the American-led coalition fighting the militants, the needs are even more
vast than Mr. Khalil suggested, with no functioning hospitals or schools, not even the heavy equipment needed to uncover the dead.