Hasakeh (Syria) (AFP) - In a mosque-turned-shelter, Syrian mothers desperately tried to console hungry children crying in the cold, days after they escaped clashes near a prison attacked by jihadists.
They included Maya, a mother of nine, who was among the hundreds of displaced women and children huddled together on Wednesday inside the mosque in the northeastern city of Hasakeh.
"We want to go back home," the 38-year-old said, while trying to pacify one of her infants."There is no bread, water, or sugar here."
Maya and her children are among the 45,000 people the United Nations says have fled flashpoint areas near the prison targeted by the Islamic State group.
Most took refuge in the homes of relatives and friends within Hasakeh, while others had no choice but to move into the mosque or a wedding hall, said an AFP correspondent.
Maya fled her home in Al-Zuhour neighbourhood a day after the January 20 start of the attack which is considered the most sophisticated by IS since its territorial defeat in 2019.
"The children were so scared, they started to cry, but we could not venture out because of the cold," Maya said, recalling the night IS launched the attack.
The assault triggered days of clashes in and around the facility as IS militants hunkered down in civilian homes, terrorising residents.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said they fully recaptured the facility on Wednesday after all holdout jihadists surrendered.
At least 181 people, including 124 IS jihadists, 50 Kurdish fighters and seven civilians, were killed in six days of violence, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
'We want to be safe'
Although Maya is safe now, she fears she may not have a home to return to now that the fighting has largely stopped.
"How could I not fear for my house?There is no other safe place for us to go," she said.
She had already lost her house once before when it was destroyed in an air strike years ago, before her family rebuilt it.
Mattresses were strewn across the floor in the mosque, where women and children sat in circles trying to keep the biting cold at bay.
Most of them had no time to carry basic necessities and rely on scarce handouts of bread, canned food and vegetables.
A rancid odour emanated from the crowded halls of the mosque where persistent coughs mixed with the wailing of children.
Fahima, 25, was displaced with her husband and four children.
"We barely managed to escape," she said.
"We left our homes against our will after IS militants barged in and the fighting began."
They had spent a night sleeping in the open-air in freezing temperatures before they managed to find refuge in the mosque.
Next to her, an exhausted mother of seven said all she wanted was to go back home.
"We are dying from the cold here," she told AFP."We want to be safe, and return to our homes."
