Al-Tanf is a makeshift camp located in a narrow strip in no-mans land between the Syrian and Iraqi borders [UNHCR/B.Diab]
Published On 23 Mar 201023 Mar 2010
The refugee camp has hosted more than 1,300 Palestinians from Iraq since it was opened in 2006 [UNHCR/B.Diab]
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Living conditions are harsh: extreme temperatures, scorpions and snakes, sandstorms, floods and several risks of fire with difficult access to medical services [UNHCR/B.Auger]
Many fires swept through the al-Tanf camp. In 2007, the camp was devastated by fire destroying 53 tents belonging to eleven families [UNHCR/B.Diab]
Despite the harsh conditions, children have found alternative ways to have fun like with hand-made swings [UNHCR/B.Diab]
Forty per cent of the refugees in al-Tanf are children [UNHCR/B.Diab]
A boy plays with a kite, a symbol of hope and liberty [UNHCR/B.Diab]
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Al-Tanfs media team is creating a new documentary to spread awareness of the plight of the Palestinian refugees [UNHCR/B.Auger]
After more that three years of living in the camp, many refugees have been granted access to reside in various countries including Syria, Italy, Sweden, Norway, and Chile [UNHCR/B.Diab]
Finally the al-Tanf camp is being closed down [UNHCR/B.Diab]
One of the refugees prepares to leave to Italy, where he will start a new life [UNHCR/B.Diab]
The camps school has been dismantled and emptied as many leave[UNHCR/B.Diab]
Waiting for a truck, refugees pile up their personal belongings before being moved to another camp in northern Syria [UNHCR/B.Diab]
After three years of calling al-Tanf home, the refugees load their belongings onto a truck [UNHCR/B.Diab]
Wael and Raafat head to Syria to take a plane flight to Italy where they will start new lives [UNHCR/B.Diab]
The refugees are looking forward to a better future but they have to leave their close friends [UNHCR/B.Diab]
Families bid their final goodbyes before leaving the camp, not knowing whether they will ever see each other again [UNHCR/B.Diab]
Ali, the school director and founder of the media group, says goodbye to the many friends, students and relatives he is leaving behind [UNHCR/B.Diab]
Around 300 refugees were transferred to al-Hol, a better camp in northern Syria [UNHCR/B.Diab]
Al-Hol is expanding in order to accomodate the additional 300 Palestinian refugees from al-Tanf [UNHCR/B.Diab]
The ones transferred to al-Hol might have to wait several month until being transferred to another country [UNHCR/B.Diab]
Some family members were reunited in Syria for the first time since 2006 [UNHCR/B.Diab]
Children play as their parents settle in their new home [UNHCR/B.Diab]
For some refugees, it is just another stop-over in their long path to exile [UNHCR/B.Diab]
