Caught Between ISIS and Assad

Molly Crabapple
The conflict in miniature, if 20,000 people starved by their government can be described
 as miniature. "Bab al Salam houses 20,000 refugees, mostly women and children.
 Under dusty tarps, these refugees live in horrid conditions. Barefoot kids play next to
 rivers of sewage. Preventable diseases flourish. The Turkish government gives out two
 meals a day, but the United Nations High Council on Refugees does nothing beyond
 providing some of the tarps. The Assad government has forbidden them from giving aid
 to opposition areas.
The Saudis and the government of Qatar are showier, flaunting their generosity with
 branded tents. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Gift to Humanity,” one read. The Gulf
 states fund fighters—their charity is marketing.
In this wasteland, young people like Yusuf are trying to cobble together a future. Before
 the war, Yusuf was a year into an engineering degree. When the revolution hit, his father,
 a higher-up in the Syrian army, defected. I asked Yusuf why he had joined the revolution.
 “They were killing women, killing children,” he said.
Yusuf works under the banner of the Islamic Front, an alliance of more or less religious fighting
 groups. The Islamic Front has successfully pushed ISIS out of much of northern Syria, including
 Azaz, where the Bab al Salam camp is located."