generalspeaking

United Nations "Responsibility to Protect"

"Yet again, innocent civilians are paying the price for the political failure to stop the violence and do what is demanded under international law -- to protect all civilians."
"Our worst fears are materializing."
Mark Lowcock, UN humanitarian co-ordinator

"Most of the partners [medical facilities, hospitals] will never again share their coordinates with the UN because it is not working."

“Last year six hospitals were attacked, and this month another eight hospitals were attacked after their coordinates were shared with the UN. So most NGOs in Syria decided to stop this process."
Dr Mohamed Zahid, Physicians Across Continents, Syria

Amjad al-Abdullah reaches for his 7-month-old daughter who hangs from the wreckage of their family home by a piece of her clothing following a Syrian or Russian government airstrike in Idlib province ( SY24 )

"There was dust everywhere in the air, and people were screaming for help. I could see the young children clinging on to each other."

"The father was screaming ‘Don’t move! Don’t move'!"

"The older child was still clinging on to the baby. We rushed them to al-Shami hospital but they were running out of blood supplies and had to take them to Idlib hospital."

"I stayed with the children, praying they would be safe."

Bashar al Sheikh, a photographer from Kafr Nabudah, Idlib

"The injuries we are seeing are horrific. It’s clear that once again children have been killed and injured in indiscriminate attacks."

"The children of northwest Syria have been caught in violent conflict for 80 days with no lull. They have been denied education, food, healthcare and forced to sleep under the trees in open fields for months now."
Sonia Khush, Save the Children, Syria

 

"Some of the dead bodies were torn into pieces or burnt beyond recognition. Many of the victims were women and children, some of them suffering the most horrific injuries."

"[The increased violence is] part of a wave of new attacks on critical civilian infrastructure across northwest Syria in recent months, including health facilities, schools, water plants, and bakeries."

Mark Cutts, UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator, Syria crisis

A Syrian girl runs for cover during an airstrike by pro-regime forces on Kfar Ruma last week ( AFP )

The father, Mr. Abdullah in the first photograph above, proved unable to save all of his children. A life-shattering, soul-destroying dilemma for a father whose primary responsibility is to protect his children. Who, in their right minds, thinks of a government barrel-bombing its citizens, of a foreign entity operating in that government's airspace, bombing innocent civilians? Seven-month-old Tuqa  survived, but her five-year-old sister Riham died soon after the attack, as did her mother, Asmaa. Two other sisters were severely injured, one of them is still in a critical condition.

What a cruel irony that the children's mother shares the same name as the murderous tyrant's Bashar al-Assad's cosseted and protected wife whose own children are safe and secure from the heinous assaults of a mass murderer like her husband. Since 2011 when peaceful Sunni Syrian protesters rallied in protest against their status of inequality, the regime has been responsible for the deaths of a half million Syrians, and that number dated from three years ago; impossible to know how many since have died.

A member of the UN permanent Security Council is actively engaged in bombing innocent civilians of a country not its own, collaborating with a conscienceless tyrant whose response to a popular uprising of a disaffected majority of the country's sectarian-split population with all the deadly munitions, including chemical weapons, at his disposal. Iran's Republican Guard Corps, its proxy terror group Hezbollah, Shiite militant groups have all shored up Assad's military for the singular purpose of mass slaughter.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking of the Syrian governorate of Idlib addressed it as an "abscess" needing to be "liquidated". The situation compelled humanitarian organizations to launch an appeal with the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs, warning "Idlib is on the brink of a humanitarian nightmare unlike anything we have seen this century". Idlib? Syria? Sunni Syrians? Kurds? What does it all mean? Hasn't the issue been settled? Is the rebellion still on? People still being killed?

The world is tired of Syria. Disinterested in what's happening there. Outrage has been worn out. Out of sight, out of mind. The Islamic State was defeated, wasn't it? Its caliphate is gone, is it not? What's the problem? The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has offered the world the figure of 2,641 'casualties' since the end of April, reflecting Idlib's agony under the regime's barrel bombs and Russia's fighter bombers. Bombed buildings are now rubble, upon which lie the dead and injured.

Since April 29 an estimated 25 hospitals and clinics have been destroyed. Deliberately targeted. Over 800 health workers have been killed since 2011 and 570 hospitals and clinics have been bombed. When thousands of Syrian civilians were slaughtered in Aleppo the world was aghast, calling for Assad's removal, but the Kremlin had other ideas. Without Vladimir Putin's helpful alliance with Bashar al-Assad it would indeed have been over, Assad defeated.

Now, it is the Syrian resistance that has been bombed into submission. With Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines awaiting his opportunity to move in and wreak his vengeance on the Kurdish population. Idlib's population had more than doubled, it became the catch-basin for all the rebels forced out of other surrounding areas, where they sought haven and the chance to recoup their resources. Soon joined by Islamist terrorist groups, including remnants of Islamic State. The presence gives justification cover to Assad and Russia to bomb the innocent.

Syria is absent six million of its population. Millions live in misery in Turkey whose government has begun the process of 'repatriation', ushering them back to Syria because not enough Syrian lives have been destroyed. Ankara can eye its own plans with relative impunity because the agreement with Europe to detain Syrian refugees disallowing them to reach an already-saturated Greece and Italy satisfied both Turkey's demand for payment and Europe's for disabling another potential refugee wave.

Labels: Bombing, Civil War, Crimes Against Humanity, Russia, Syria, Violence

posted by Pieface @ Friday, July 26, 2019