Click to enlarge — Karam al-Masri/AFP/Getty Images
A Syrian man carrying his daughters across rubble after a barrel bomb attack on the rebel-held neighborhood of Kalasa in Aleppo, September 2015.
- Comment
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Eideard 
The last consideration in the decision to go to war is always the suffering of the innocents.
There is much talk after the fact and we always swear to try to avoid collateral damage.
Whether by intent or oversight no one ever says “Let’s call this attack off. There are innocent children there.”
Rather they attack and then make the appropriate noises as if they didn’t know. They may even send humanitarian aid (depending on who is killing who) but never is the decision to attack an important military target modified or called off because civilians might be harmed.
Of course the situation is so much worse when the civilians are the targets and the attacking force is their own government. In that case; as above; the slaughter is with intent and the civilians ARE the primary consideration in a more horrible way; even worse but no more deadly and tragic .
I never believe them when they say, “We had no idea there were people in the house above that bunker.”
Of course they knew. They know all before they commit.”
There is no “safe” way to conduct a war. Civilians especially children are the first and last victims in any war.
Assad has gone from a reluctant eye doctor to a murderous dictator. He has become the problem for his people, not the solution. He has weakened his own nation; leaving it open for an attempted conquest by I.S.I.L.
He has opened a killing ground for whatever force or nation wishes to get some target practice in. Russia, America and so on. Each nation will launch attacks and both they and whatever others join in will no doubt, kill civilians and their children. The excuse will be the same “We try not to.” “We didn’t realize” But we all realize it and expect it.
“The Shadow Doctors : The underground race to spread medical knowledge as the Syrian regime erases it.” (New Yorker Magazine) http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/27/syrias-war-on-doctors “In the past five years, the Syrian government has assassinated, bombed, and tortured to death almost seven hundred medical personnel, according to Physicians for Human Rights, an organization that documents attacks on medical care in war zones. (Non-state actors, including ISIS, have killed twenty-seven.) Recent headlines announced the death of the last pediatrician in Aleppo, the last cardiologist in Hama. A United Nations commission concluded that “government forces deliberately target medical personnel to gain military advantage,” denying treatment to wounded fighters and civilians “as a matter of policy.”
‘The Aleppo Evil’ Is Making A Comeback (NPR) http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/06/29/483721076/the-aleppo-evil-is-making-a-comeback
“Taking sides: The United Nations’ loss of impartiality, independence and neutrality in Syria.” http://takingsides.thesyriacampaign.org/?akid=319.19963.7QVJ_u&rd=1&t=1
In the midst of the worst humanitarian catastrophe in a generation, the UN has handed the reins of its aid operation over to the very man responsible for the deaths of thousands and the displacement of millions of Syrians. Currently, the Assad regime is dictating where UN aid goes from Damascus, who the UN is allowed to work with and what the UN spends its money on.
The UN’s capitulation to the Assad regime means they have failed to successfully challenge Assad’s starvation sieges under which a million Syrians are denied access to food, medicine and running water. Instead, over 95% of the food aid managed by the UN in Damascus has been issued directly into areas under regime control.
Western nations publicly critical of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime have been quietly sending security officials to collaborate with his government, Assad said in an interview broadcast Friday. http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-assad-western-nations-quietly-collaborating-with-syria-2016-7
(7/4/16) “Tens of Thousands Are Starving in Syria, UN Warns : Top UN official demands immediate and unconditional humanitarian access to two towns encircled by pro-government forces, two others blocked by rebels” http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/1.728898
Photos: Syrian civilians celebrate with hugs, kisses, and lifted veils after their city’s liberation from ISIL http://qz.com/757549/syria-liberation-of-isil-held-manbij-by-us-led-sdf-leads-to-celebration-hugs-and-kisses/ After years of occupation by ISIL and a bloody months-long siege, civilians in the Syrian city of Manbij are finally free.
Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced today, Aug. 12, that they had liberated the city’s last ISIL-held neighborhoods, reports the BBC. Reuters photographer Rodi Said has captured emotional photos of Manbij residents being evacuated: women flipping up their veils, men getting their beards cut, and huge smiles.
Washington Post: “A picture of a Syrian boy goes viral, but the war goes on” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/08/19/a-picture-of-a-syrian-boy-goes-viral-but-the-war-goes-on/ “We’ve been here before, of course. Last year, the image of the drowned toddler Alan Kurdi, his lifeless body resting on a Turkish beach, seemed to wake up the outside world to the misery and horror of the Syrian refugee crisis. But despite an outpouring of global woe and lamentation, little changed.”
“Brother Of Omran Daqneesh, Bloodied Syrian Boy Pictured In Viral Image, Has Died” http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/21/490818153/brother-of-omran-daqneesh-bloodied-syrian-boy-pictured-in-viral-photo-has-died According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Ali was wounded during an aerial bombardment earlier this week and has since died as a result of his injuries. http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=49593 “He was martyred while in hospital as a result of the same bombardment that their house was subjected to,” local council spokesman Besher Hawi told Reuters. A doctor identified as Abu Rasoul appeared in a video released by the Aleppo Media Center, an activist network, and also confirmed 10-year-old Ali’s death. https://www.facebook.com/AleppoAMC/videos/vb.152150235162687/279946185716424/?type=2&theater
“The Latest: Assad Claims Photo of Child in Ambulance Is Fake” (NYT) http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/10/19/world/middleeast/ap-ml-syria-the-latest.html
Also Russia’s Tass news agency announced that Russian and Syrian warplanes halted their airstrikes on the besieged city of Aleppo, in preparation for a temporary pause in the military push that Moscow has announced for Thursday.
“Children in the Syrian Civil War: the Familial, Educational, and Public Health Impact of Ongoing Violence” https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/disaster-medicine-and-public-health-preparedness/article/children-in-the-syrian-civil-war-the-familial-educational-and-public-health-impact-of-ongoing-violence/A7CC15D863191359990082151EC66186 See also referenced article “A war within a war. Fighting a major polio outbreak in the midst of Syria’s bitter civil war is a test of commitment–and diplomacy.” (Science. March 2014) http://science.sciencemag.org/content/343/6177/1302.full
“She rang me as bombs fell… Then she vanished” (BBC 3 August 2017) http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-40488225 Also: listen to ‘Last call from Aleppo’, on Assignment, BBC World Service http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p059s1mt
Photo: https://correspondent.afp.com/sites/default/files/styles/adaptative/adaptive-image/public/medias/aa_new_posts/countries/syria/aleppo-stringer-sept2016/karam-almasri-award-3.jpg?itok=HsH6WGv4
2017 Knight International Journalism Award Winner Karam al-Masri is a Syrian photographer and videojournalist. In his own words: “Covering Syria through hunger and fear” https://correspondent.afp.com/covering-syria-through-hunger-and-fear
′My camera was like a shield,′ says Syrian war photographer (Deutsche Welle) http://www.dw.com/en/my-camera-was-like-a-shield-says-syrian-war-photographer/a-39059094
“When hospitals become targets” (CBS 60 Minutes November 26, 2017) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/when-hospitals-become-targets/ “Syria’s dictator is trying to quash the remnants of rebellion by bombing hospitals. Still, brave doctors in the country, many of them American volunteers, are risking everything to save lives.”