LOS MARGINADOS: More hospital bombings in Syria

domingo, 2 de octubre de 2016

More hospital bombings in Syria

More hospital bombings in Syria

Bioedge

More hospital bombings in Syria

by Xavier Symons | 1 Oct 2016 |

Médecins Sans Frontières has called for an end to Syrian and Allied bombing in the city of Aleppo after two major hospitals were bombed out of service. Massive airstrikes earlier in the week devastated the city's eastern quarter, and led to doctors closing the two largest hospitals in the area.

The hospitals, known as 'M2' and 'M10' to obscure their location, were estimated to serve a quarter of a million Syrians.

Health workers say the Wednesday morning bombing killed two staff members at M2 and also a civilian whose heart was pierced by shrapnel. The hospital’s intensive care unit was extensively damaged, as were power generators, fuel storage and water tanks that kept the hospital running. The M10 hospital was similarly affected, and suffered further damage on Saturday from barrel bombs, witnesses say.

The Assad regime vehemently denies responsibility, but the United Nations has accused Syria and Russia of committing war crimes.

MSF supports eight hospitals in Aleppo city. It runs six medical facilities across northern Syria and supports more than 150 health centres and hospitals across the country, many of them in besieged areas.

In a blizzard of accusations by both sides, it is hard to know what the truth is. But it seems clear that hospitals and health care workers are being targeted. “We have exhausted all the options of civilian protection – we’ve even dug hospitals underground and in caves, as if we are living in the Middle Ages”, said Raed al Saleh, head of the White Helmets, the respecred volunteer first responders.

However, "bunker busting" weapons used by government forces means that even underground hospitals are no longer immune from deliberate attacks by the Syrian regime and Russian forces, according to the Save Our Syria campaign, a coalition of Syrian civil society and humanitarian groups.

- See more at: http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/more-hospital-bombings-in-syria/12027#sthash.BsO5XZWL.dpuf

Bioedge

Yes, the American president is the most powerful man in the world. Yes, he has the launch codes. But there is something unhealthy in the preoccupation of the world’s media with the US presidential campaign at the expense of other world crises.

Donald Trump, who must be the worst major party candidate ever, seems to have incited violence at some of his rallies and has even made vague threats to Hillary Clinton. If you Google “Trump violence”, you will get 82,700,000 results. It’s a live issue, at least in the media.

Google “Duterte violence” and you will get only 971,000 results – about 1% of the figures for Trump. But Mr Duterte has incited thugs, vigilantes and police to kill drug dealers and since he took office on June 30. The Filipino president now has the blood of 3,500 of his own countrymen on his hands. And he is not a buffoon running for President. He is the President.

But it could get worse. This week he cheerfully compared himself to Hitler. “Hitler massacred three million Jews ... there’s three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them,” he told a press conference. “You know my victims. I would like (them) to be all criminals to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition.”

The number of murders in July, August and September is more or less equivalent to the number of civilians killed in Syria. Why doesn’t the world care? It’s probably because Duterte’s victims are drug addicts and dealers. Even if they are, they have a right to life and a right to justice. They are human beings; they are not scum.

The world is demanding the removal of Syria’s President Assad because of the atrocities committed by his regime. It’s time that world leaders called for the removal of President Duterte.