In a makeshift settlement in the arid “no man’s land” between the Jordanian, Iraqi and Syrian borders, thousands of Syrians continue to live under siege.

Rukban camp is surrounded by Syrian government and Russian forces, who accuse its more than 8,000 residents of being “terrorists” and since 2019 have blocked United Nations aid from entering, forcing residents to survive off menial amounts of smuggled-in goods.

The recent tide of normalisation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has put the camp in an increasingly precarious position. The Syrian government was recently reinstated to the Arab League after it was suspended more than a decade ago, a move that will put an end to the country’s regional isolation.

“Any action that gives power to the regime or any form of changing control in a region, no matter how small, could be catastrophic for the area … It will shatter the hopes of the camp residents in achieving stability,” said General Fareed al-Qasim, a local Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander, an armed opposition group that assists US forces stationed near the camp.

The attention al-Assad received in the aftermath of earthquakes in February was a catalyst for the Syrian president to revitalise ties with his estranged neighbours.

Since the earthquakes, Syria has seen multiple embassies reopen and has hosted diplomats from the regime’s former rival countries, including from Saudi Arabia, which was one of the principal backers of the opposition that rose up against al-Assad in 2011, but that has now been defeated in most of Syria.