23/09/12
Syrian rebel volunteers aid Aleppo needy
Volunteers are helping thousands of people in Syria get access to essential food and medicine supplies
Amid the battles in Syria, thousands of civilians are struggling to find food and water.
Doctors are also in short supply, as are medical supplies.
In Aleppo, volunteers have been risking their lives to provide as much aid they can to the rebels.
Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal reports.
14/09/12
Just before we left Deir Sunbuul, the mountain town that we made our home for five days, the doctor asked me quietly if I could help to get medicines for his clinic.
I said I would try.
I would talk to NGOs and call the charities.
I would publish the list he had quickly scrawled of the supplies he urgently needs.
I would talk to anybody I thought could get supplies through.
This is because for a trained physician, who runs the clinic in the town where he grew up, to not be able to do his job in the face of so much suffering is agonising.
Dr Hani Marouf talked about the promises he had heard from the Syrian Red Crescent and the Turkish aid distribution centre.
On a crackly phone line he had repeatedly been told fresh supplies would come soon. They’ve said that for the past three months. Nothing has arrived. The clinic got excited when they heard money had been raised for them in Kuwait. Nothing turned up. They believe it was stolen in Turkey.
The clinic is now on its last legs. Much of the medical equipment is broken or worn out. His baby scales don’t work. Their only canvas stretcher is rotten and useless. The doctor dragged in a table tennis table to treat patients and an old wooden coat-stand is used to hang the saline bags. There are piles of small white boxes on some of the shelves. I ask what they are. Vitamins and drugs to treat Alzeihmer’s disease. He laughs. His patients don’t live long enough to get Alzeihmer’s.
When government forces took control of the town earlier this year they ransacked his original clinic, pouring oil over everything. Medicines and equipment were stolen. The regime soldiers are now gone and the clinic is now in a different building so the bombers above don’t know its location.
‘Nobody helps us’
The doctor and his male nurses spend their days and nights there. Marouf is exhausted. He’s lost all hope for the future.
“We have become a dark country. Some countries help Bashar [al-Assad] to make bombs and destroy our country. But nobody helps us.”
He said that after this past year, he has “no reason to be hopeful” and that he believes his country will become another Afghanistan.
His makeshift clinic is the closest medical facility for ten towns across this mountain region of Jabal Zawiya.
Every day people turn up with bad backs, asthma attacks, skin conditions - routine complaints that require simple drugs. The doctor has little to offer - even antibiotics and tetanus shots have run out.
But it’s not just medicines they lack. Thousands of babies in the area have not had baby formula for three months. Supplies ran out so they are being fed on cows’ milk. It gives them diarrhea and leaves many severely underweight.
But this clinic now serves as much more than a GP’s surgery. When the bombs fall it’s a field hospital. On an almost daily basis people are rushed in with massive blood loss, head trauma or punctured lungs. One afternoon we watched him dig a lump of shrapnel out of one man’s back. With the right equipment he said he could have saved this man. Instead the doctor did the best he could and put him in a van to the nearest hospital. It’s an hour’s drive along dangerous roads. He died on the way.
These are not fighters shot or blown up in the conflict; they are people living under the misery of a daily bombing campaign. One night the doctor sucks on his cigarette holder, his only luxury, and asks why the world has deserted the Syrian people.
I start to talk world politics and Security Council resolutions and then I stop. Getting medicines and medical equipment to these people has nothing to do with international diplomacy. This is a humanitarian disaster. Innocent people are dying every day.
10/08/2012 Homs, #Syria: Activists takes us inside a Tal Kalakh field hospital in Homs, revealing an extreme shortage of equipment and medicine. [English subtitles]
08/09/12
Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing Syria. Given the lack of food, shelter and medical care for these refugees, aid organizations are sounding the alarm about the disastrous humanitarian situation.
One family spent days trying to reach the Syrian-Lebanese border. Then, with darkness to protect them during the night, they dared to make the crossing. But when the family reached the neighboring territory that would offer them refuge, they realized two of their children were missing. Lost in the rough terrain of the Lebanese mountains, the parents searched for their missing children for hours. In vain. The family ultimately continued on its escape - without the pair of children. Given the icy temperatures that prevail in the mountains in March, it was clear that the kids would only survive a few hours on their own. The war in Syria had not only stolen all of their worldly goods, but had also destroyed their family.
Children are the victims
(Children are most traumatized)
Marc André Hensel, coordinator of aid for Syria at the German association World Vision Deutschland, said he hears such depressing stories in the camps for Syrian refugees located on the Lebanese side of the border. He’s heard countless tales of such fates since he started working at the camps in March. Parents, whose children were wounded but could not receive medical attention and who died or were abused.
Children in particular suffer from the war. They are the ones with the greatest difficulty in dealing with the effects of the war. Many suffer from nightmares, Hensel told DW. Others feel they are being pursued.
“They just want to get away,” Hensel said. “They are reserved, silent, in shock. Some do not even mention what they have experienced. Others don’t stop talking, and you can tell they want attention and sympathy.”
Stories circulate in the camp. Stories of government troops taking children hostage to make their parents compliant sound plausible to many in the camp since it’s a method that apparently is frequently used against opposition members. “Others have told me that children have been tied to tanks as human shields so that people do not throw Molotov cocktails or shoot at them,” Hensel said, adding that he considers the stories credible.
On the run for weeks
The horrors of the war are huge, said Donatella Rovera, who remained undercover in Aleppo for weeks during the spring for Amnesty International. During her stay, she said she met families who had changed their whereabouts four or five times within a very short amount of time.
“Every time they arrived at a peaceful zone, at some point, it would be attacked,” she said. “They would have to move to another region, and another, and then another.”
The refugees erratically wandering around Syria make up the largest group of those who have had to flee their homes because of the war. The United Nations estimates there are up to 1 million of them.
(A Syrian woman lost her legs - and husband and two children - during a mortar shelling by Syrian forces)
Many of them are injured and hope to receive medical care. But going to the doctor is not simply a matter of course. It often means relying on good, reliable personal connections. Many people fear going to the hospital, Rovera told DW, because the word is out that government troops seize those seeking medical aid and check their identities. If they find that they are active members of the resistance, they imprison them.
“And people know that when they are imprisoned, they are often killed,” she added.
Many of the injured turned to looking for doctors underground. This is also not without risk since medically treating members of the opposition is punished with draconian means. “In really acute cases,” Rovera said, “those injured must get themselves smuggled out of the country.”
Dire lack of medication
The situation is also worsening for those who are not members of the opposition. Many medical centers and hospitals have been destroyed, said Tarik Jasarevic, spokesperson for the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO). Others have had to close due to interruptions in power supply. Ongoing clashes also prevent doctors and other medical personnel from being able to reach their workplaces.
Even when doctors are present, they often cannot treat their patients because they lack the required medication. Around 90 percent of the medication used in Syria is produced locally, Jasarevic said. “If there’s a lack of supply, then Syrians must buy the medication on the world markets - something they cannot afford right now.” It is therefore not only victims of violent clashes, but also those with chronic diseases - such as heart problems, diabetes and cancer - who are suffering from a lack of medical attention, he said.
(A Syrian refugee made it to a Lebanese hospital)
Even when doctors are present, they often cannot treat their patients because they lack the required medication. Around 90 percent of the medication used in Syria is produced locally, Jasarevic said. “If there’s a lack of supply, then Syrians must buy the medication on the world markets - something they cannot afford right now.” It is therefore not only victims of violent clashes, but also those with chronic diseases - such as heart problems, diabetes and cancer - who are suffering from a lack of medical attention, he said.
Massive amounts of food aid
The humanitarian situation is catastrophic in many regards. A spokeswoman for the UN World Food Program (WFP) said some 46,000 in Aleppo alone rely on food aid. WFP members helped 500,000 people in the month of July, the spokeswoman said. The number was supposed to be even greater, but the security situation prevented more aid from reaching the country - the war rendering even aid organizations into the powerless.
Nazem Najar, 12, recovers in a hospital after being wounded by a Syrian Army sniper, in the northern Syrian city of Idlib, Wednesday, March 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
(AP) GENEVA - The Syrian government will allow the United Nations to assess the basic medical needs of Syrians in four areas where opposition forces have clashed with government troops and to also carry out a preliminary humanitarian needs assessment, officials said Friday.
But the rare access to strife-torn areas of Syria gained by two U.N. agencies for health and population needs depends on the cooperation of local medical students, Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid workers and other non-government organizations to conduct the survey.
A third U.N. agency, for humanitarian needs, announced Friday it had gained access for its own preliminary assessment.
For the past year, Syria’s government has engaged in a bloody crackdown on a popular uprising inspired by the Arab Spring movements in other countries in the region. The U.N. says more than 7,500 people have been killed. Activists put the death toll at more than 8,000.
World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic says a “very preliminary and basic survey” overseen by his agency and the U.N. Population Fund will be carried out next week with the cooperation of Syria’s health ministry.
Medical students and aid workers will fan out in four areas affected by the crisis: the rebellious city of Homs, the southern town of Daraa where protests began, the northeastern city of Deir al-Zour and rural parts of the capital Damascus, he told reporters in Geneva.
“It is very difficult to assess needs and provide an independent evaluation in order to get a clear overview of the situation and the needs on the ground,” Jasarevic said. “The results will be analyzed by a technical committee composed of most of the agencies of the health sector.”
In particular, he said, local aid workers say they already know there is a critical lack of medical help ranging from not enough ambulances to sparse medicine and other supplies, particularly for trauma care and chronic diseases.
The U.N. health agency says that since the start of the crisis last year its office in Syria has been providing the nation’s health ministry and the Red Crescent with ambulances, surgery supplies, and equipment such as ventilators and incubators for newborn babies.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which has been negotiating for access in Syria, said Friday it has gained permission to take a “first step” toward providing badly needed medical help, food and basic supplies.
After a three-day tour of Syria that included Homs and parts of its devastated suburb of Baba Amr, OCHA head Valerie Amos said in Ankara, Turkey, that she was “horrified by the destruction.”
“Almost all the buildings had been destroyed and there were hardly any people left there,” she said.
Amos said in a statement provided to reporters in Geneva that she is “extremely concerned as to the whereabouts of the people who have been displaced from Baba Amr.”
She said her meetings with Syrian government ministers ended with an agreement for “a joint preliminary humanitarian assessment mission” that would be done in areas where people most urgently need help.
“While this is a necessary first step, it remains essential that a robust and regular arrangement be put in place, which allows humanitarian organizations unhindered access to evacuate the wounded and deliver desperately needed supplies,” she said. “A proposal has been submitted to the government of Syria, and I ask them to consider this matter with the utmost urgency.”
Blood stains left by a 70-year-old woman who was killed in the room after heavy shelling by government forces in Sermeen near the northern city of Idlib February 28, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Zohra Bensemra
AMMAN |
“The army is trying to go in with infantry from the direction of al-Bassel football field and fierce confrontations with automatic rifles and heavy machineguns are taking place there,” activist Mohammad al-Homsi told Reuters from Homs. He said the military had shelled Baba Amro heavily on Tuesday and overnight before the ground attack started. Several Western journalists are trapped in the battered district, although Syrian activists escorted British photographer Paul Conroy to safety in nearby Lebanon on Tuesday in a messy escape in which some of his rescuers were killed. Reports from Baba Amro could not immediately be verified due to tight government restrictions on media work in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is struggling to repress an almost year-long uprising against his 11-year rule. Activists say hundreds of civilians have been killed in besieged opposition districts of Homs, including at least 20 on Tuesday. Shells and rockets have been crashing into Baba Amro since February 4. Army snipers pick off civilians who venture out. The International Committee of the Red Cross and its local partner, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, have been pushing for a ceasefire to enable them to extricate wounded civilians and bring in desperately needed supplies of food and medicine. The United Nations says Assad’s security forces have killed more than 7,500 civilians since the revolt began last March. “There are credible reports that the death toll now often exceeds 100 civilians a day, including many women and children,” U.N. Under-Secretary-General for political affairs Lynn Pascoe told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday. “The total killed so far is certainly well over 7,500 people.” Syria’s government said in December that “armed terrorists” had killed over 2,000 soldiers and police during the unrest. DRAFT U.N. RESOLUTION As world dismay grew over the bloodshed, France said the Security Council was working on a new Syria resolution and urged Russia and China not to veto it, as they have previous drafts. An outline drafted by Washington focused on humanitarian problems to try to win Chinese and Russian support and isolate Assad, Western envoys said. But they said the draft would also suggest Assad was to blame for the crisis, a stance his longtime ally Russia in particular has opposed. Asked by a U.S. senator whether Assad could be called a war criminal, Clinton told a Senate hearing: “There would be an argument to be made that he would fit into that category”. She added, however, that using such labels “limits options to persuade leaders to step down from power”. Russia and China vetoed a draft resolution on February 4 that would have backed an Arab League call for Assad to step down. China indicated a possible shift late on Tuesday when it told the head of the Arab League it supported international efforts to send humanitarian aid to Syria. But Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also urged political dialogue in Syria, something ruled out by Assad’s opponents while the bloodshed goes on, and Russia has warned against interference in Syria under a humanitarian guise. Syria’s U.N. envoy in Geneva stormed out of the U.N. Human Rights Council after saying other nations must stop “inciting sectarianism and providing arms” to Syrian rebels. Conroy, who works for London’s Sunday Times, was spirited safely out of Homs into Lebanon on Tuesday. “He is in good shape and in good spirits,” the newspaper said. He had been among several journalists trapped in Baba Amro, where Marie Colvin, a veteran war correspondent also with the Sunday Times, and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in a bombardment on February 22. Their bodies are still there. Confusion surrounded the fate of French freelance reporter Edith Bouvier, who was wounded in the same attack. President Nicolas Sarkozy initially said he had been informed that Bouvier had been evacuated, but later said that had not been confirmed. Activists said Bouvier was back in Baba Amro, along with Spanish journalist Javier Espinosa and French photographer William Daniels, after a failed attempt to smuggle them out. (Additional reporting by Dominic Evans, Erika Solomon and Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Ladies and Gentlemen, Brothers and Sisters, Dear Friends:
I thank you for your participation in this Friends of Syria Conference. I salute all the righteous souls of our fallen heroes and the journalists who were killed while covering their stories, and pay tribute to our great people, who have not stopped in their struggle to regain their rights, lost since the Assad family took over power. We started a revolution of freedom and dignity in the heart of Damascus, Syria on March 15. Our revolution was peaceful, but the regime’s response was atrocious. It bombed Lattakia from the sea; its soldiers slaughtered the people of Daraa; armored vehicles moved into Hama; and Homs is now being pounded by heavy artillery shelling that targets any Arab or foreign journalists who enter the city. The neighborhood of Baba Amr has been under siege for 20 days, during which most homes have been destroyed, a ban on bringing bread or medicine into the city has been imposed, its hospitals have been destroyed, and its women and children are being abused or killed. All this is to force residents to surrender and submit to the regime’s will. Yet the Syrian people have not surrendered, nor will they give up. A free people was born in Syria, and it does not fear death, nor does it accept to bargain away its long-deprived rights or give up its sovereignty by any definition.
We, the people of Syria, applaud your solidarity with us and your commitment to the cause of our people, and we are proud of our friendship with you. We welcome any assistance you might offer, or means to protect our brothers and sisters who are struggling to end the rule of tyranny. But let me also be frank with you: We are here today to work together for the future of Syria and the Syrian people. There is no room for regional rivalries, nor is there room to move the Syrian issue from one international camp to another. Our goal is a free, independent, sovereign Syria, and meeting the aspirations of the Syrian people is our objective. What is most desired by our people today is to, quite simply, transition to a system of government that is not based on force or under which citizens are terrorized and tortured. The Syrian people do not want a government that, rather than punishing corruption, revels in it. The Syrian people seek a government under which citizenship alone shall guarantee their rights and duties, rather than nepotism, favoritism, and personal loyalties.
What the Syrian people seek –all the Syrian people– is a government that knows the true meaning of accountability and responsibility. What the Syrian people seek is a government bound by the rule of law and under which all citizens of all segments of society are free and equal in their rights and national obligations. The Syrian people, all the Syrian people, want an end to the rule of a Mafia family and the establishment of a forward-looking, democratic, civil state in this new era. A system of government under which no Syrian must give up his dignity and freedom to stay alive. A system of government under which all Syrians have equal opportunities, and can enjoy the fruits of their labor and talents, rather than seeing them go to the close relatives and aides of senior officials.
We in the Syrian National Council, on behalf of the Syrian people, thank you for your help. We value your friendship. However, the key to the solution remains in the hands of Syrians; it is neither an external solution nor a military one. The key to our victory is in unity and mutual understanding.
To all my fellow Syrian brothers and sisters I say: Syria is our goal. With all honesty and openness, I speak before you now as a Syrian Arab citizen who happened to be born a Muslim. The beliefs I hold do not affect my commitments as a citizen, nor do they provide me with a national or cultural identity any more so than they would a Kurdish Syrian or Assyrian or Armenian, or any other ethnicity from across the spectrum of Syria to which each of us may belong.
What is happening today in Syria has nothing to do with a conflict between a minority and a majority. Those who are guilty of violating people’s honor and trampling on their rights, who kill their fellow countrymen and steal from them, have no religion or ethics, and are not of us. They have no humanity. And so I say to my fearful Alawite compatriots: You are my brothers and sisters, and your unique role in rebuilding the new Syria cannot be undertaken by anyone else, because it is a right you have earned through your historic struggle for Syria. No one has the right to hold you responsible for crimes committed by the Assad-Makhlouf Mafia. You are not responsible for the actions of corrupt dictators.
I say to my Christian brothers and sisters: Many of you left your historic Syria in the past in search of freedom and better opportunities. When you left, a dearly held part of Syria died. The new Syria is no longer merely a dream; it is within our reach, and we will work together to ensure that each Christian who needed to leave can return to the land of his or her forefathers.
The new Syria will not be the property of any sect, denomination, or group. Rather, it will be a homeland for all its citizens equally, a democratic civil state based on the rule of law and civil liberties in which our citizenship transcends any social, ethnic, national or sectarian faction. The new Syria will be one to which Syrians will be proud to belong; a Syria in which any citizen has the right to seek the highest positions in government without regard to ethnic origin, religion, or gender.
And to my Kurdish brothers and sisters, I say: Syria belongs to us all. There is no contradiction between a Syria that returns to embrace its Arab character and a Syria that respects your national identity and in which you are assured of equal constitutional rights as a group and as individuals before the law. The new Syria will have a decentralized government, thereby enabling local authorities to take control of their affairs. The people and land of the new Syria will remain united, and the new Syria will avail itself of every opportunity to celebrate the diversity that has enriched its long history. Your identity will be nationally and constitutionally recognized and respected accordingly, and your rights as citizens will be assured. You will play a significant role in rebuilding the Syria of our dreams, the Syria of which we have been dreaming for decades.
To all Syrians, I say: The Syrian National Council will not accept any form of political isolation, nor any form of discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, or gender. We reject any form of government that does not draw its legitimacy from the will of its people. For all those who fear what will happen as result of Assad’s and his thieves’ departure, I say: The Syrian National Council envisions a future Syria based on the rule of law and state institutions within a free and civil society that is founded in a prosperous, diverse, and creative nation. Syrians should never have to leave their country in search of freedom, opportunities, or a decent life.
To all Syrians who fear that chaos or instability will substitute the rule of Assad’s mafia and his supporters, I say that the solution is in our hands as Syrians in our unity and mutual understanding and the road ahead is clear:
• Continue the popular Revolution and resistance until Basher Al-Assad is ousted or a delegated authority takes over as per the Arab League Ministers’ Action Plan.
• Afterwards, a “Presidential Council” will be formed, and will be composed of well-known and national leaders who represent the different segments of society. The Presidential Council will in turn appoint a transitional government of political, military, and technocratic figures who have not fought against the Revolution; a government that will manage the nation’s affairs and maintains its structure and institutions, particularly military and civilian administration.
• The formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Committee in collaboration with civil society associations with the responsibility of investigating crimes, addressing legal and psychological consequences for the terrorism perpetrated by the previous regime, and preventing any sectarian or political reprisals. The committee will work to reconcile and restore the sense of nationalism and human values that have been lacking during this crisis.
• The transitional period ends with the election of members of Parliament, under the supervision of Arab and international monitors. The Parliament will choose a new president, appoint a new representative government, and establish a constitution based on parliamentary, pluralistic, and democratic rule to ensure a civil state in Syria. Only when the Legislative Council holds its first session will we have a new life with a democratic parliament, with God’s help.
We will work with the different state institutions to ensure national security and the safety of all citizens from the first day of the transitional period, and we will not tolerate any acts of revenge or attack or discrimination.
Dear Brothers, Sisters, and Friends,
All of the Syrian people look up to us and we sincerely hope that the assembly of this conference will be a turning point for the Syrian people’s long-awaited and bitter struggle to restore their natural rights and freedoms from the bloody and corrupt military rule. The regime exploited the international community for stability and used humanitarian, patriotic, and noble slogans to discredit an entire nation and rob it of its resources while controlling its children’s lives. The military dictatorship insulted individuality, humiliated the nation, and held its will in contempt, as it did to its culture, standing policy, history, and its foundation. For the past half-century, the military dictatorship has used control and violence as a means of governance. It has led to the bloodshed and abuse of individuals, including children, women, the youth, and the elderly without distinction, where thousands were imprisoned and thousands more were exiled. The Syrian people demand the following:
• First and foremost, the urgent provision of immediate relief, the declaration of disaster areas in Syria, and the establishment of humanitarian corridors to provide emergency assistance to Syrians. We demand that all women, children, and the wounded be evacuated from the besieged cities. Humanitarian and aid collection centers must be established in neighboring countries.
• Second, to secure and ensure freedom of work and movement for international relief and human rights organizations to help people in coping with the harsh conditions across the country.
• Third, to provide a means of protection for Syrian civilians and to remove all threats facing them, in order to create conditions that allow them to freely express their opinions and create an environment that helps foster self-determination.
• Fourth, to recognize the Syrian National Council and support its efforts in coordinating various parties involved in the Revolution within the framework of a national plan to accomplish change and oust the corrupt and tyrannical regime.
We owe it to our revolutionary youth who sacrificed their souls in order to bring freedom to their people; we are inspired and empowered by them. We work for their cause, and our efforts do not compare with their sacrifices. We have trust in all of the Syrian people, and call upon everyone to unite in their work towards freedom for our nation.
Dear Brothers, Sisters, and Friends,
Syria has a long history in the cradle of civilization and humanity. It is at the crossroads of many religions and cultures and remains the land of love, tolerance, and peace. Thanks to the great sacrifices of its children, democratic forces, and the help of the free world, it will soon be the land of freedom, rule of law, citizenship, volunteerism, and prosperity.
God bless the righteous heroes of liberty and peace. God’s mercy and blessings be upon you.
Clinton blunt with Russia, China over #Syria
By Wyatt AndrewsRebels there say government forces killed at least 50 more people Friday.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in North Africa, where she used her strongest language yet to condemn Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at a conference in Tunis at a conference of world leaders known as “The Friends of Syria.”
The conference was a global gathering of outrage. The result was a new set of demands, the first one being that Assad permit immediate shipments of food water and medicine, or face a world much more angry than it already is.
“If the Assad regime refuses to allow this life-saving aid to reach people in need,” Clinton told the conference, “it will have even more blood on its hands. And so, too, will those nations that continue to protect and arm the regime.”
She was unusually harsh on the Russians and Chinese, blaming them for a share of the violence for their veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned Assad. The secretary called that veto “despicable,” and asked rhetorically, “Whose side are they on”?
Clinton predicted the conference would put new pressure on Assad, but the Saudi foreign minister seemed to issue a pointblank threat. Asked if it was time to arm the Syrian rebels, he replied, “I think it is an excellent (idea) … because they have to protect themselves.”
The conference also marked the debut of the Syrian National Council, a dissident group of exiles asked to form a transitional government. The leader of the group, Burhan Ghalioun, also warned Assad to give up power peacefully — or else, saying in Arabic, “The defenders of the people getting more and more arms. … We are trying to negotiate a solutions, but if that fails, syria will fall into an armed struggle.”
Women cry over the body of one of the five civilians killed during a Syrian Army bombardment on Al Qusayr Feb. 21, 2012. (Reuters)
By Al Arabiya With Agencies
More than 60 Western and Arab nations are gathering for the crucial “Friends of Syria” conference in Tunis on Friday to demand that the Syria regime implement an immediate ceasefire to allow aid in for desperate civilians in the absence of an international consensus on intervention to end a crackdown on an 11-month-old revolt.
With moves for tough action in the U.N. Security Council stymied by Russian and Chinese vetoes and a lack of appetite for military action to end Assad’s crackdown, delegates are expected to focus on finding ways to ferry medicine and food to stranded civilians and to evacuate casualties stuck in the fighting.
Amid international outrage over the deaths of two Western journalists and reports of intensified shelling of civilians, former U.S. chief Kofi Annan was called on to represent both the U.N. and the Arab League in ending “violence and human rights violations, and promoting a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis,” the two bodies said in a statement Thursday.
The appointment of Annan came on the day international investigators submitted a list of Syrian military and political officials suspected of possible crimes against humanity while the death toll continued to mount inside the country.
But the Arab League-organized conference of Arab and Western officials will be marked by a Russian boycott and the absence of China.
Both countries have frustrated efforts to rein in Assad’s regime, including by vetoing U.N. Security Council resolutions.
An early draft of the meeting’s declaration being circulated by opposition sources Thursday said it could call for the Syrian government “to implement an immediate ceasefire and to allow free and unimpeded access by the UN… and humanitarian agencies.”
“We look forward to concrete progress on three fronts: providing humanitarian relief, increasing pressure on the regime, and preparing for a democratic transition,” Clinton told reporters in London on the eve of the talks.
“To that end, we hope to see new pledges of emergency assistance for Syrians caught in Assad’s stranglehold, and international coordination and diplomatic pressure on Damascus to allow it to get to those who need it most.”
U.N. humanitarian envoy Valerie Amos was expected to attend the meeting, along with representatives from the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), which is already working with the Syrian authorities and opposition to arrange daily ceasefires to allow in humanitarian aid.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday Syria’s opposition would ultimately arm itself and go on the offensive if diplomacy failed to resolve the crisis.
Addressing her comments directly to Russia and China, Clinton told reporters in London: “The strategy followed by the Syrians and their allies is one that can’t stand the test of legitimacy or even brutality for any length of time.
“There will be increasingly capable opposition forces. They will from somewhere, somehow, find the means to defend themselves as well as begin offensive measures.”
Asked about the possibility of military action to try to end the bloodshed, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said France could not act without Security Council backing.
“Our priority is to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance,” he told reporters in London. “We want also tomorrow to reaffirm the unity of the international community to exert maximum pressure on the regime … There is no military option at the moment on the table.”
Those views were echoed in the draft communiqué, which did not mention any foreign military intervention along the lines of the NATO bombing campaign that helped force out Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi.
Instead, it called for a ratcheting up diplomatic pressure on Assad to step down and endorsed an Arab League plan that sees him handing power to a deputy as a prelude to elections.
The wording of the draft reflected a harsh reality: there is little the outside world can or will do to stop the violence as long as Russia and China, both of which declined invitations to the Tunis meeting, reject Security Council resolutions.
Another problem facing world powers is divisions within the Syrian opposition, which they will seek to overcome before offering full backing.
The draft stopped short of fully endorsing the main opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people but proposed that it be recognized as “a legitimate representative of Syrians seeking peaceful democratic change”.
A lack of unity within the Syrian opposition and fears that the country is sliding toward civil war have left even Assad’s harshest critics reluctant to directly arm Syrian rebels in the absence of any moves towards a Libya-style military campaign.
Syrian opposition figures said they expected support to be financial, technical and logistical, allowing them to buy satellite phones and equipment to improve coordination on the ground or to independently smuggle in small arms.
In a sign that there would be no let up in diplomatic pressure on Assad, Turkey said it would host the next “Friends of Syria” meeting.
The “Friends of Syria” meeting takes place as Syria’s military pounded rebel-held Sunni Muslim districts of Homs for the 21st day, despite international protests over the death toll of more than 80 on Wednesday, including two Western journalists.
Residents of Homs fear Assad will subject the city to the same treatment his late father Hafez inflicted on the rebellious town of Hama 30 years ago, when thousands were killed.
The revolt against Assad has taken a sectarian slant as most of the protesters trying to topple him are Sunnis, who make up 74 percent of Syria’s 22 million population. Assad is from the minority Alawite sect and critics say he has filled senior posts with Alawites to impose his rule.
U.N. investigators said Syrian forces had shot and killed unarmed women and children, shelled residential areas and tortured wounded protesters in hospital under orders issued at the “highest levels” of the army and government.
In their report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, they called for the perpetrators of such crimes against humanity to face prosecution and said they had drawn up a confidential list of names of commanders and officials alleged to be responsible.
The commission found that the Free Syrian Army, which is made up of thousands of troops who have defected and that has begun to coordinate with the exile-led SNC, had also committed abuses, “although not comparable in scale.”
Syrian authorities have not responded, though they rejected the commission’s previous report in November as “totally false.”
Western diplomats said it had not yet been possible to extract the bodies of Marie Colvin, an American working for Britain’s Sunday Times, and French photographer Remi Ochlik.
Two journalists wounded in the same attack were also awaiting evacuation from the Baba Amro neighborhood of Homs which has seen some of the worst bombardment.
The army is blocking medical supplies to parts of Homs and electricity is cut off for 15 hours a day, activists say.
The SNC has said it will call on the “Friends of Syria” to push for the creation of three humanitarian corridors - one from Lebanon to Homs, one from Turkey to Idlib and one from Jordan to Deraa. It will also call for safe areas for refugees to be established in border areas.
An earlier French proposal to set up humanitarian corridors met with little enthusiasm as it would require military force to keep the areas safe and open.
However, SNC spokeswoman Basma Kodmani said if Russia could persuade Assad to allow safe passage to humanitarian convoys it would avert the need for military intervention.
Russia, which has resisted piling political pressure on Assad, has said it was willing to consider a humanitarian arrangement with the agreement of Assad.
In the midst of the diplomatic deadlock and with the situation worsening inside Syria, this may be the most that the “Friends of Syria” can hope to immediately achieve. That may not be enough to prevent Syria, a country located at the heart of the Middle East, from sliding into a civil war.
The Baath regime in Syria killed another 60 persons on Tuesday. About 30 were killed by troops in restive Idlib province. The Syrian military also continued to pound Homs on Tuesday, using heavy artillery against the civilian district of Baba Amr and and killing another 30 there. The assault also set the stage for a humanitarian catastrophe as residents run out of water, food and medicine.
The Red Cross is calling for a daily brief ceasefire so that it can deliver humanitarian aid. The Baath regime is highly unlikely to grant the request. The Red Cross cannot send a convoy in without government permission because of the danger that it will be targeted.
The Baath army has had difficulty advancing into Baba Amr because it is being defended by well armed defectors from the Syrian army who are putting up the kind of fight in Homs that the Libyan youth revolutionaries put up in Misrata when that was besieged by the forces of Col. Muammar Qaddafi last spring and summer.
For regime military forces to call a ceasefire would, while in accordance with the laws of war when substantial civilian deaths are imminent, nevertheless allow the Syrian defectors to regroup. That development would make it even harder for government forces to advance after the ceasefire had ended. One suspects, as well, that the Baath military officers would shed no tears over civilians starving in the rebellious city of Homs.
The heartbreaking images that came out of Homs via the intrepid Arwa Damon of CNN and today via Marie Colvin have spurred calls for the Syrian resistance to be armed.
[Oh no! Marie Colvin has been kiilled in the shelling of Homs! She was one of the greats.]
Senator John McCain has urged that some third party, not the US, send arms. The Obama administration was initially cool to this idea, especially since US and Iraqi intelligence says that foreign Sunni radicals (“al-Qaeda”) based in Mosul in Iraq have now departed in some numbers for Syria. These guerrillas are likely responsible for the suicide bombing in Aleppo and the assassination there today of a government official.
But on Tuesday administration officials changed their tune and began allowing for the possibility of arming the Syrian Free Army defectors.
Regular readers know that I think sending a lot of arms into Syria is a very bad idea.
But given the humanitarian crisis in the besieged cities and towns, the international community’s responsibility to protect does require some action. I’d like to see airdrops of water, food and medicine on Homs and other encircled urban areas if the government won’t pause the fighting or allow a humanitarian corridor. The problem is that the Syrian regime has a lot of anti-aircraft batteries, and might well shoot down the planes being used for the drop. That development in turn might lead to hostilities, which would be very undesirable, and which Russia and China are pledged to block.
Well, I hate those US drones when used for purposes of warfare. But here is a Gandhian use for them. Let us defy the Syrian regime’s misuse of its sovereignty to murder its own citizens by using drones for supply airdrops. The US military was thinking already in 2009 of using drones to resupply troops in Afghanistan, and surely they have made progress since then. They could be launched from Incirlik Air Force base in Turkey, and I think Turkey might agree to this limited form of intervention. If the Syrian military shot down any humanitarian drones, no one would interpret that as an act of war requiring retaliation. So the tactic does not carry with it any danger of escalation into hostilities.
Readers in the military would know better how plausible this plan might be.
The USG Open Source Center translated the following interview in al-Sharq al-Awsat with a member of the Homs resistance (many Syrians pronounce it Hims):
“Report on Syrian Regime Forces Continued Bombardment, Siege of Hims
Report by Yusuf Diyab in Beirut: Hims Is Shelled by Rocket Launchers, and Its People Were Fasting Yesterday To Pray for Victory. An Activist to Al-Sharq al-Awsat: The Number of Victims Among the Free Army Is slight Compared With the Civilian Victims
Al-Sharq al-Awsat Online
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Document Type: OSC Translated Text…The city of Hims Continues to be on top of the scene of the
Syrian events due to the tightening of the military siege on it from all directions, the targeting of its suburbs and areas with violent bombardment by rocket launchers and mortar shells and the rising number of victims.
Abu-Ali Hasan, an activist in the Hims Coordination Committee, said that “the humanitarian situation in the city is very tragic but the morale of the people is high in spite of the difficult circumstances in which they are living at this stage.” He told Al-Sharq al-Awsat: “In spite of the siege, destruction, and tragedies, the people refuse describing their city as a stricken one because it is a city of dignity, sacrifice, and pride and the people are no longer wagering on the Syrian National Council, the Arab League, or the whole world but they are wagering on their sons, the revolutionaries who are the members of the Free Army, and all the people of Hims are fasting today (yesterday) to pray for victory for Almighty God.”
He said that “all the areas of Hims today (yesterday) are facing violent bombardment by rockets and mortar fire from the Air Defense College south of Hims and from the Military Academy in the area of Al-Wa’ar, west of the city,” pointing out that “what is disturbing the Free Army is the long range bombardment that targets the houses and kills innocent children and civilians, while the number of the Free Army’s martyrs is tiny compared with the civilian martyrs.”
Answering a question on what is said about the preparations of the Syrian Army to storm Baba Amr and wipe out the armed manifestations there, he said that “the army of (Syrian President Bashar) al-Asad is more coward than to dare to storm Baba Amr or any area in Hims.” He added: “They can enter a square for minutes, but they quickly withdraw in face of the strikes by the soldiers of the Free Army who go out of their defenses.”
On how do the revolutionaries in Hims get weapons and ammunition in spite of the tight siege imposed on the city, he said that “we get weapons from some traders or the dissident soldiers or from the spoils of war that the Free Army gets as a results of its operations against the regular army.”
He pointed out that “the revolutionaries in Hims are not satisfied with the performance of the National Council, which has not offered anything to the city in spite of the massacres and the destruction the city is facing and in spite of the ordeal the people are experiencing.”
He added: “We have received information, which we are going to verify, that says that prominent figures in the National Council do not want to topple the regime but want to share power with it. If this information is correct, then we will withdraw our confidence in it and will call for its collapse and to form a new national council that include ranking officers of the Free Army and civilian figures, such as Haytham al-Malih, Bassam Ji’arah, Muhyi-al-Din al-Lazqani, and Shaykh Adnan al-Ar’ur, and many other honorable figures.”
Meanwhile, the Syrian National Council yesterday called for “providing secure passages under international protection to deliver the humanitarian, relief, and medical aid,” considering that “any delay would mean a humanitarian tragedy whose consequences are awful.”
A spokesman for the National Council told Al-Sharq al-Awsat: “The Council has contacted European diplomats and the International Committee of the Red Cross to send urgent assistance to Baba Amr and all stricken areas in Syria, which are on continuous increase to include all the Syrian governorates and cities, and the response of the International Committee of the Red Cross was that it is impossible to go to areas other than those that the Syrian Army allows the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to enter to prevent the targeting of the convoys.”
(Description of Source: London Al-Sharq al-Awsat Online in Arabic — Website of influential London-based pan-Arab Saudi daily; editorial line reflects Saudi official stance….) “
Warnings from Syrian activists of a humanitarian catastrophe in Homs grew more desperate Thursday as government forces resumed shelling an opposition stronghold in the central city, where hundreds have died in a weekslong siege.
The toll mounted a day after two Western journalists were killed in shelling in Homs, and there more international calls for a cease-fire to allow assistance to reach areas hardest hit by the regime’s crackdown on opponents.
U.N. investigators accused Assad’s security apparatus of crimes against humanity as world outrage mounted over violence that has cost thousands of lives during an almost year-long popular uprising against his 11-year rule.
A “Friends of Syria” meeting in Tunis on Friday will call on Syrian forces to stop firing to give international aid groups access to areas worst hit by the violence which are running out of medicine and food, according to a draft declaration obtained by Reuters.
Russia, however, said Moscow and Beijing — staunch allies of President Assad — remained opposed to any foreign interference in Syria.
Across the country, activists reported between 16 and 40 people killed in attacks by security forces in rebellious areas that included the Hama countryside in central Syria and the mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya region in the north. There has been no way to confirm independently the specific death tolls provided by the activists or by the Syrian government.
In London, diplomats from United States, Europe and Arab nations prepared to demand that Assad call a ceasefire and allow humanitarian aid in hard-hit areas.
The ultimatum, outlined by participants to the London talks, is likely to be presented Friday in Tunisia at a major international conference on the Syrian crisis. Further defiance by Assad could bring even tougher sanctions and isolation.
In a statement released Thursday, British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said the U.N. Human Rights Council report on Syria is “damning.”
“I am appalled by the evidence that young children are being targeted by snipers, and that security forces continue to arrest and torture wounded patients in State hospitals,” Burt’s statement read.
The minister added that those responsible for these “terrible atrocities” will be held accountable. British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a news conference in London the Syrian government was guilty of butchery and murder.
Homshas been under a fierce government attack for nearly three weeks. The International Committee for the Red Cross said it was trying to negotiate daily two-hour ceasefires in Homs to provide aid to civilians in violence-hit areas.
Homs-based activist Omar Shaker said intense barrages hit residential districts in Baba Amr again Thursday, but there was no immediate word on casualties. He said food, water and medical supplies are running dangerously low in Baba Amr.
“Every minute counts. People will soon start to collapse from lack of sleep and shortages in food,” he said.
On Wednesday, shelling of Baba Amr killed American-born war correspondent Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.
They were among a group of journalists who had crossed into Syria illegally and were sharing accommodations with activists, raising speculation that government forces targeted the makeshift media center where they were staying. But opposition groups had previously described the shelling as indiscriminate.
At least two other Western journalists were wounded Wednesday — French reporter Edith Bouvier of Le Figaro and British photographer Paul Conroy of the Sunday Times. Bouvier, was shown in a video posted on YouTube Thursday pleading to be evacuated so she can have an operation. She said her leg is broken in two places.
Bouvier, propped up with pillows and covered in blankets, said field hospital doctors had treated her as well as they could but did not have the equipment to operate.
“I need to be operated on as soon as possible,” she said.
Bouvier, whose thigh was tightly wrapped in bandages and seemed very calm, said her femur was shattered.
A Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman offered condolences to the families of Colvin and Ochlik but rejected any responsibility for their deaths. The spokesman urged foreign journalists to respect Syrian laws and not to sneak into the country.
Some Syrians held protests and vigils Wednesday night in several parts of Homs in commemoration of Colvin and Ochlik.
“Remi Ochlik, Marie Colvin, we will not forget you,” read one banner held by protesters in the town of Qsour in Homs province.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 16 people were killed in attacks by security forces in rebellious areas that included the Hama countryside in central Syria and the mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya region in the north. Another group, the Local Coordination Committees activist network, said the overall number of Syrians killed was 40. The reason for the differing tolls was not immediately clear.
In Geneva, a panel of U.N. human rights experts said Thursday that the United Nations has a secret list of top Syrian officials who could face investigation for crimes against humanity carried out by security forces in their crackdown against the anti-government uprising.
The U.N. experts indicated that the list goes as high as Assad.
Experts say the list is initially likely to be more of a deterrent against further abuses than a direct threat to the Assad regime. Syria isn’t a member of the International Criminal Court so its jurisdiction doesn’t apply there, and Russia would likely block any moves in the U.N. Security Council to refer the country to the Hague-based tribunal.
Thousands of Syrians have died in the violence since March and the panel, citing what it called a reliable source, said at least 500 children are among the dead.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague told BBC radio that military intervention was very unlikely, as “the consequences of any outside intervention are much harder to foresee.”
A senior EU official said foreign ministers meeting in Brussels next week will add seven Syrian government ministers to those already sanctioned. Sanctions include asset freezes and visa bans for officials, commanders of the security forces and others considered responsible for human rights abuses.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of EU rules, said additional restrictions may be imposed on Syria’s central bank, on imports of precious metals from the country, and on cargo flights.
The EU had already sanctioned more than 70 Syrians and 19 organizations and has banned imports of Syrian crude oil.
In Amman, Jordan, several dozen Syrians, mainly from Homs, staged a protest outside the U.S. Embassy asking for Western military intervention. “Almighty God, destroy Bashar,” they chanted.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
In this Monday, Feb. 20, 2012 citizen journalism image provided by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and accessed on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, a market is seen destroyed from Syrian government forces shelling, at Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs province, Syria. An opposition group says several people have been killed in heavy shelling of a district in central Syria a day after the army sent reinforcements ahead of a possible ground assault. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria)
By Mariam Karouny
BEIRUT, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Struggling to survive after two weeks of withering bombardment by Syrian forces, people in the Baba Amro district of Homs are packed four or five families to a house, relying on collected rain water and watching their wounded friends and relatives die for lack of medicines, residents say.
Some say starvation is a real threat and accuse the world of abandoning them to army shelling which they say has killed dozens of people and wounded 2,000 in the rebel stronghold of an 11-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
With no chance to flee, many families have abandoned their houses on the outskirts and retreated further into the heart of the battered neighbourhood in the central western city of Homs, cramming dozens of people into small houses and apartments.
Those who survive the shelling face shortages of food and water which they say have been deliberately aggravated by government snipers shooting at water tanks. They are terrified to leave their homes and shelters.
“We are collecting rain water in jars and casseroles,” said Abu Bakr, a resident of Baba Amro sheltering with 25 people in a two-room house.
“We take turns in sleeping — some during the day and others during the night because we do not have enough space,” he said.
Women who recently gave birth are unable to feed their babies because their breast milk has dried up from shock, he said. “Some women have volunteered to breast feed those babies but until when? Their lives are in danger.”
The shelling destroyed many houses in the poor neighbourhood of 80,000 people and the few field hospitals erected months ago are in ruins, activists say. At least two doctors and two nurses were killed in the shelling, leaving Baba Amro with just two or three doctors, they say.
“FRIENDS AND RELATIVES DYING”
Some houses were turned into makeshift hospitals but the lack of medical supplies and staff mean there is little help for the wounded.
“We are watching the wounded die. All we are doing is using pieces of clothes to cover their wounds then watch them die,” said another resident of Baba Amro, who declined to be named.
“We have lost many people and every day we have friends and relatives dying before our eyes, there is nothing we can do.”
The government says it is fighting armed militants intent on overthrowing Assad who are funded and armed from abroad while the residents say the crackdown is aimed at crushing pro-democracy protesters and those opposed to Assad.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told Reuters that it was negotiating with Syrian authorities and opposition fighters on a “cessation of fighting” to bring life-saving aid to civilians hardest hit by the conflict.
Diplomatic sources said the ICRC was seeking a two-hour halt of hostilities in hotspots including Homs, a major industrial centre and Syria’s third largest city, next to Damascus and Aleppo.
In some areas of Homs, the Free Syrian Army rebels set up checkpoints to try and block access to soldiers and Shabbiha militia loyal to Assad.
In Baba Amro, where many residents are farmers and traders, the massed troops on the outskirts of the district mean farmers are prevented from harvesting their crops.
“If people do not die of the shelling they will die of starvation soon,” said an activist, who used the name Marx.
FOOD SUPPLIES DWINDLING
Markets are closed after running out of supplies and residents are living on supplies of pickled eggplants, olives and dried bread. Vegetables and meat have become a luxury, residents said. Phone lines and Internet are cut off.
When at least 217 people were killed in a shelling on Homs’s Khalidiya district earlier this month, activists in nearby Baba Amro said their neighborhood would be next and they took measures to ensure the outside world could see.
Activists have broadcast live footage and uploaded hundreds of videos of graphic footage on YouTube showing the intensity of shelling, destruction, death and wounded people.
But they still feel they have failed to draw the world’s attention. Foreign powers have yet to take measures to stop the killings, they say, or even allow safe passages to evacuate women and children and the critically wounded.
“The world has abandoned us, we are alone and we do not count, nobody cares what happens to us,” said Ahmad.
Anger is also rising against the Syrian opposition, who residents say have stood by and watched the slaughter.
“We feel that the opposition has let us down … Everybody is fooling us and using us for their own interests and we are the ones paying the price,” Marx said.
Khaled Abu Salah, an activist in Baba Amro, sent a distress call to the main opposition group the Syrian National Council, comparing his city’s suffering to the violent suppression of a 1982 Islamist uprising in Hama, when forces loyal to Assad’s father killed at least 10,000 people.
“We are being bombarded and we are dying. We are living the 80s with all its scenarios and until now you have done nothing,” he said in a YouTube video, standing in front of a shelled house.
“We hold you fully responsible. The people said that the SNC represent us and the people will delegitimise you (if you do nothing),” he said. (Editing by Dominic Evans and Peter Millership)
As violence in Syria escalates to bloody new levels, human rights activists are claiming a hidden war is being fought – this time inside hospitals and medical facilities. WORDS: FRANKIE MULLIN
Last week, President Bashar al-Assad’s regime was again ordered by the UN to halt its brutal crackdown, which included government troops pummelling the central city of Homs on Friday, killing at least 22 people.
However, for the survivors, it appears a similar fate may await. International medical humanitarian organisation Medécins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) has spoken out to decry the militarisation of Syria’s hospitals.
MSF, which aims to provide medical aid ‘where it is most needed, regardless of race, religion, politics or gender’, and currently works in 60 countries, says Syrians injured by government troops are unable to go to hospital for fear of being arrested, tortured or even killed for opposing Assad’s rule. Medicine is being used as a “weapon of mass persecution”, in ways almost unprecedented in recent warfare, the organisation claims.
Watch video testimonies of injured Syrians, collected by MSF
“Doctors feel like they’re being hunted,” says Dr Greg Elder, a Kiwi ex-pat and MSF’s deputy director of operations in Paris. “Regardless of what happens in the wider political landscape, these things shouldn’t happen. Hospitals should be protected – that’s in the Geneva Convention.”
As violence escalates, so do the reports of blast traumas, sniper injuries, high-velocity gunshot wounds and soft tissue injuries and fractures caused by exploding bullets.
MSF is receiving a growing number of testimonies that the wounded are being beaten and killed as they lie in hospital beds, while others are left to die with festering wounds. Some simply disappear. The identities of those making the reports have been withheld over fears of retaliation by government troops.
One demonstrator who sought hospital treatment says: “All the doctors had been arrested and they were forced to sign a document saying they would only treat certain cases, the ones the government would allow.”
Others who have injuries consistent with taking part in a demonstration run a high risk of being arrested, or worse. “I was operated on under false identity because I am wanted by the security forces,” another injured man says. “Normally, under the worst circumstances, they might have removed a finger or just bandaged my hand but they knew I was from [location withheld] and they cut it off from the wrist.”
Another Syrian reports seeing a fellow patient killed by a member of Assad’s security forces as the man lay injured in a hospital bed. “A man in military gear – judging by his uniform, an officer – was crushing an injured person with his feet. In the end, the officer finished him off.”
For medical workers, the situation is dangerous and doctors know they are being watched, although Syrian authorites tell the outside world nothing untoward is happening. One response has been to set up underground clinics in homes, warehouses and apartments.
These makeshift hospitals are run with few supplies and only basic injuries can be treated. For most, the only hope is to be smuggled over the border to Lebanon or Jordan.
Although MSF has not been allowed direct access to the wounded in Syria, it is offering support to the proliferation of underground, mobile clinics springing up across the country. It’s a constant battle, however.
“The field hospitals change place every day. Several times [Assad’s troops] have come to take away or burn all the medical materials and supplies,” another Syrian recounts.
“There are no ambulances, they have all been targeted. They shoot at the passengers. The doctors who are brave enough to take action are arrested, or their wives are raped, or they are place under house arrest.”
In the clandestine medical shelters, simple rooms outfitted as operating theatres are used for surgical procedures. Hygiene and sterilisation conditions are rudimentary and aneasthesia is in short supply. Furthermore, the mere possession of drugs and basic medical materials, such as gauze, is considered a crime.
With most ambulances now under military control, another unofficial service has been set up by locals to scoop the beaten and bloodied from Syria’s streets.
The bravery of Syria’s medical professionals who continue to save lives while risking losing their own is awe-inspiring.
“When we receive serious casualties, we have two options: either we let them die, or we send them to hospital not knowing what will become of them,” says an anonymous Syrian medic. “Doctors are being harassed by security forces. But despite that risk, many are putting their lives in danger.”
With the situation so extreme, Elder admits the staying politically neutral is impossible, but also points to the saying ‘truth is the first casualty of war’.
“We know that the way the health service is being abused is just the tip of an iceberg, but the wider political context is much more complex that the picture that’s being painted.”
What is clear, however, is that medicine – and the humanitarian agencies that administer it – has become increasingly politicised, a frightening reality for those who are trained to help their fellow human beings, no matter what their political views are.
“Medical professionals have become a legitimate target,” Elder says. “That makes things dangerous for them. They are not soldiers; They are not trained to be on the front line.”
Pictures: Getty
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