EXCELLENT! سلامة كيلة Link يمكن تعداد جرائم عديدة ضد الإنسانية في سورية، ارتكبتها السلطة، وهي جرائم فظيعة، أدت إلى استشهاد مئات آلاف المواطنين، واعتقال مئات آلاف آخرين قتل كثيرون منهم في السجون. وتم تدمير عشرات القرى والمدن، وانهيار الاقتصاد، وطبعاً دمار الجيش الذي انشق عنه، أو هرب منه أكثر من مائتي ألف، وقتل منه مئة ألف، ولم يبق منه سوى بعض سلاح الطيران. وباتت السلطة تسيطر على ربع مساحة الدولة، وهُجّر أو لجأ أكثر من نصف السكان، قتل آلاف منهم غرقاً. لم يحدث ذلك كله نتيجة احتلال "إمبريالي"، كما حدث في العراق الذي عانى زمن الاحتلال من كثيرٍ مما يعانيه الشعب السوري، بل حدث بفعل مجمل السياسات الوحشية التي قامت بها السلطة (بدعم ومساندة ومشاركة من إيران ومليشياتها الطائفية التي باتت هي التي تحمي السلطة، وتحافظ على بقايا وجودها، وكذلك من روسيا التي أمدتها بأفتك الأسلحة وبخبرة البراميل المتفجرة، وبأحدث الطائرات). فقد دمرت وقتلت باستخدام الجيش والأمن والشبيحة، لكن الاحتقان الذي اخترق الجيش دفع إلى هذا العدد الكبير من "الهاربين"، وتدمرت القوات المستخدمة بشكل كبير (الفرقة الرابعة والحرس الجمهوري وبعض الوحدات الخاصة). انتهى "التوازن الإستراتيجي" الذي أقامه حافظ الأسد على الصواريخ البالستية (السكود)، وتلاشى الجيش إلا بقايا. وربما هذه أكبر جريمة قامت بها السلطة التي لم تقتنع بأنها عاجزة عن الاستمرار، بعد أن تمرّد الشعب، وتحرّر من حالة الخوف التي زرعتها طوال عقود من الحكم الشمولي الاستبدادي. ولهذا، مارست "سياسة الأرض المحروقة" تحت عنوان "الأسد أو نحرق البلد". ولا شك في أن كل هذه الوحشية لم تكن ناتجة عن مواجهة "عصابات مسلحة"، أو حتى "جيوش من الإرهابيين"، بل كانت نتاج العمل على سحق شعب تمرّد عليها، ويريد رحيلها، حيث إن الحرب ضد عصاباتٍ لا تحتاج إلى طائرات وصواريخ استراتيجية وجيوش، بل تكفيها "وحدات خاصة" فقط، فقد عملت السلطة، عن قصد، على الحرق والسحق لشعب تمرّد، حيث "لا يجوز تمرد العبد على السيد" وفق منظورها. لهذا، أطلقت كل وحشية ورثتها من تراث العصابات والشبيحة، لكي تسحق الشعب، حتى وإنْ فرض ذلك إبادته. وهذا ما ظهر بعدد ما يمكن أن يوضع تحت بند "جرائم حرب"، أو "جرائم ضد الإنسانية". وكانت السلطة بحاجة إلى هذا المستوى من الوحشية، على أمل أن تبقى في السلطة، ولو على شعب من بضعة آلاف من البشر، أو حتى "لا أحد"، فالأمر يتعلق بـ "الأسد أو نحرق البلد"، وما جرى هو حرق البلد بكل الوحشية الممكنة. ليس استخدام الأسلحة الكيماوية وحده ما يعدُّ جريمة حرب، وهذا ما اهتمَّ بعضهم به جزئياً.
لكن، يمكن أن نعدد جرائم حرب وعمليات إبادة أخرى، مثل الاعتقال الواسع والقتل في السجون، فما ظهر بالصور التي عُرضت يشير إلى قتل إحدى عشر ألف سجين، وهو عدد لا يشمل العامين السابقين، حيث تزايد قتل السجناء، فالسلطة تقتل الناشطين (وهم ليسوا أصوليين، أو إرهابيين) بالضبط، لأنها تريد قتل الثورة، وهذه جريمة حرب. وهناك حصار المناطق، ومنع دخول الغذاء والدواء، ودفع الناس إلى الموت جوعاً، هذا ما حصل في داريا والمعضمية والغوطة الشرقية، وفي حمص، ودير الزور، وفي مناطق عديدة، وهي جريمة حرب كذلك. ظهر هنا أن السلطة تعاقب الشعب الذي تمرّد عليها، وتريد فناءه، ولا يتعلق الأمر بإرهابيين، فالحصار هو لمدن وقرى وأحياء، وليس لمجموعات "إرهابية" متحصنة في مكان ما. ومن دون أن ننسى أن استخدام الصواريخ البالستية والبراميل المتفجرة جرائم حرب، لأنها تُطلق على المدن والقرى من دون تمييز، ولا تطلق ضد جيش آخر. ولا شك في أن البراميل المتفجرة هي الأكثر تعبيراً عن "العقاب الجماعي". بالضبط لأنها تُلقى من دون تمييز، وبلا هدف عسكري، بل هدفها هو القتل، قتل العدد الأكبر من الناس، وتدمير الحجم الأكبر من الأبنية. وكل هذه الممارسات الوحشية هي التي أنتجت جريمة جديدة، هي جعل البلد "غير ممكن السكن"، حيث يقود التدمير والقتل إلى الهرب من المناطق المتضررة، ولما كانت هذه المناطق تشمل معظم سورية المأهولة (سوى المناطق التي يسيطر النظام عليها، وتلك التي تسيطر داعش عليها)، فقد نتج عن ذلك نزوح كبير، داخلي وخارجي، خصوصاً بعد انهيار الوضع الاقتصادي والعجز عن توفير العمل والمال. بالتالي، كل هذه الجرائم، ونتائجها التي ظهرت في الانهيار الاقتصادي هي التي فرضت حدوث حالة النزوح الكبيرة (أكثر من نصف سكان سورية). وبالتالي، أدت إلى موت أعداد كبيرة غرقاً في البحر. كل هذه الممارسات جرائم حرب، حيث يظهر واضحاً ميل السلطة إلى سحق الشعب الذي تمرَّد، فهي تدافع عن مصالح كسبتها، وأدت إلى نهب فئة حاكمة "القطاع العام"، وتحكّمها بجزء مهم من الاقتصاد، لتبدو سورية "المزرعة" التي يجب "الدفاع" عنها، في مواجهة الشعب المنهوب، والذي أصبح عاطلاً عن العمل، أو عاجزاً عن العيش نتيجة انخفاض الأجور، والتعرُّض لنهب الضرائب التي تفرضها السلطة، واحتكار المسيطرين على الاقتصاد. هنا، تظهر وحشية الطبقة المسيطرة، ويظهر ميلها لكي تبقى مسيطرة، حتى وإنْ أدى ذلك إلى سحق الشعب وقتله. إنها تدافع عن مصالحها بكل الوحشية، وترتكب جرائم عديدة ضد الإنسانية، فقط لكي تبقى متحكمة ومسيطرة. نفهم لماذا لا تريد الدول الإمبريالية محاسبة السلطة على ذلك كله، حيث إنها لا تمانع في القتل والتدمير، كما فعلت أميركا في العراق (وقبلها في فيتنام)، وكما تريد أن يظهر مآل الثورات كي "تتأدب" الشعوب الأخرى، فلا تجرؤ على التمرد. لكن، كيف يمكن ليسار أن يغض النظر عن ذلك كله، ويقف إلى صف السلطة؟ يسار بلا قيم ليس يساراً.
Link حركة دؤوبة في العاصمة النمساوية فيينا، محورها الوضع السوري. أضداد يجتمعون هناك أمام كاميرات الإعلام وخلف الأبواب المغلقة، بحثاً عن حل للحرب الدائرة في بلاد الشام. كان الأسبوع الماضي موعد اللقاء الأول، والذي انتهى خلافياً، قبل أن يتم تحديد موعد آخر، وتوسيع رقعة المشاركة من رباعية إلى لا متناهية. هذا حقيقة ما حدث أمس، إذ حتى اللحظات الأخيرة لم يكن معلوماً من هم المدعوون إلى الاجتماعات الموسعة، وعلى أي أساس تمت الدعوة، والتي يبدو أنها تركت مفتوحة لكل من يرغب في الانضمام. ولم لا، الراغبون كثر، وهي بالنسبة لهم فرصة للاستمتاع بجمال فيينا التي تغنت بها المطربة السورية أسمهان، ووصفتها بأنها "روضة من الجنة". لكن رياح هذه الروضة من الجنة لا تبدو أنها ستصل إلى تخفف من لهيب الجحيم السوري. معطيات كثيرة تدفع إلى هذا الاستنتاج، المتشائم، ربما المبكر، لهذه الحركة الدولية. ربما أولها هذا التوسيع غير المفهوم للأطراف المشاركة، وبعضها ليس له علاقة لا من قريب ولا من بعيد في الأزمة. في المقابل، أصحاب القضية أنفسهم غائبون عن الحدث. فإذا كان مفهوما أن تنضم إيران وقطر، وربما الأردن، إلى الرباعي الأميركي-الروسي-السعودي-التركي، لا نعلم ما هو الثقل السياسي المصري واللبناني في البحث عن حل للوضع السوري. حتى أن سياسة الباب المفتوح للمدعوين تشير إلى أن لا جدول أعمال واضحاً للاجتماعات، والتي كانت تثار معطيات بأنها للوصول إلى اتفاق على المرحلة الانتقالية السورية لما بعد بشار الأسد، وهو ما عاد الروس إلى نسفه، في تصريحات المتحدثة باسم الخارجية الروسية، ماريا زاخاروفا، والتي ذكرت أن "الهدف الرئيسي من محادثات فيينا لإنهاء الصراع في سورية هو إطلاق حوار سياسي". وإذا ما أضيف كلام مساعد وزير الخارجية الإيراني، حسين أمير عبداللهيان، والذي تزامن مع الاجتماعات، ودعوته الغرب إلى "الاعتراف بالوقائع على الأرض في سورية، وبشار الأسد جزء منها"، يتضح أن من ذهب إلى العاصمة النمساوية، وربما سيذهب لاحقاً في جولات إضافية، لا يحمل أي برنامج أو مبادرة واضحة ولا نهائية للحل في سورية. هي مجرد "اختبار نيات"، كما قال المسؤولون الأميركيون والسعوديون قبل اللقاءات. لكن، هل هناك حقاً حاجة لاختبار النيات الإيرانية والروسية في سورية، وخصوصاً في ما يتعلق برحيل بشار الأسد؟ إذا لم تكن التصريحات الصريحة والواضحة للطرفين كافية للإجابة عن هذا السؤال، ربما مراقبة الأداء في هذا المجال ستكون كافية، وخصوصاً في ما يتعلق بروسيا الداخلة حديثاً إلى الميدان السوري. فوفق أي منطق سياسي، يمكن الاقتناع بأن موسكو، وبعدما صنعت لنفسها موطئ قدم على ساحل المتوسط، وكرست نفسها لاعباً أساسياً في الساحة السورية، عسكرياً وسياسياً، يمكن أن تسلم ورقتها الرابحة بهذه السهولة للغرب، أي إقناع الأسد بالرحيل، لتحل مكانه أطراف معارضة ليس لروسيا فيها لا ناقة ولا جمل. وهل هناك من يتخيّل أن الخروج الروسي من الساحة سيكون بمثل هذه السهولة، وهي التي نقلت عتادها وعتيدها إلى الساحل السوري؟ الأمر نفسه بالنسبة إلى إيران، والتي تعتبر نظام الأسد خط الدفاع الأول عنها، وبالتالي، هي بالتأكيد ليست في وارد التفريط فيه. إذاً هو "حوار طرشان" في العاصمة النمساوية. صيحات من هنا وأخرى من هناك. لكن، لا أحد على استعداد للاستماع أو الاطلاع على النيات، المعلنة أساساً. حوار لا وجود للأطراف الحقيقيين فيه، لا من النظام ولا من المعارضة، والذين أخذ المشاركون على عاتقهم تمثيلهم وإيصال آرائهم، وحتى الاستماع بخريف فيينا ولياليها نيابة عنهم.
قالت وزارة الخارجية الأميركية أمس الخميس إن لديها معلومات ترجح قيام الطيران الروسي باستهداف مستشفيات في سوريا، كما أكدت منظمة أطباء بلا حدود أن ضربات جوية على شمال سوريا أصابت أكثر من عشرة مستشفيات، لكنها لم تحدد الدولة التي قامت بالقصف.
وأوضح المتحدث باسم وزارة الخارجية الأميركية جون كيربي أن المعلومات الخاصة لدى الولايات المتحدة تقود المسؤولين الأميركيين إلى الاعتقاد بأن طائرة تابعة للجيش الروسي أصابت مستشفيات أثناء عمليات قصف في سوريا.
وأضاف كيربي أن معلومات أخرى تفيد بأن الأهداف الروسية لا تستهدف فقط تنظيم الدولة الإسلامية، وإنما تؤدي إلى أضرار جانبية وإصابات في صفوف المدنيين.
من جانبها، أفادت منظمة أطباء بلا حدود أمس الخميس بأن الضربات الجوية في شمال سوريا أصابت 12 مستشفى على الأقل في الأسابيع الأخيرة، مما أسفر عن مقتل 35 من المرضى والعاملين بالقطاع الطبي في تصعيد جديد للقتال. ولم تحدد المنظمة الدولة التي نفذت الضربات الجوية.
كما اتهمت الجمعية السورية الأميركية الطبية -التي تعمل في سوريا- الطائرات الروسية بشن تسع غارات ضد خمسة من المستشفيات والمراكز الطبية في مناطق تسيطر عليهاالمعارضة السورية المسلحة، مما أدى إلى مقتل مدنيين وعاملين في المجال الطبي.
وفي وقت سابق، أفاد المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان -ومقره لندن- بأن غارة جوية روسية أصابت مستشفى ميدانيا بمحافظة إدلب (شمال غربي سوريا)، مما تسبب في مقتل 13 شخصا، الأمر الذي نفته موسكو بشدة.
وتشن طائرات روسية حملة جوية مكثفة في غرب وشمال غرب سوريا منذ 30 سبتمبر/أيلول الماضي، دعما لنظام الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد.
At the southern edge of Jabal Mukaber, a Palestinian neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem, the hills form a wide, natural amphitheatre. Here olive groves adorn the gentle slopes, horses whinny, and birds flit out from the eaves to play in the evening sky. The views out towards Herod's great fortress Herodion are breathtaking. The air where I was sitting, however, was thick with concrete dust, driven up by the feet of two small children chasing one another between piles of rubble and shattered furniture. It was here, in an idyllic setting 200 metres away from the manicured grounds of an illegal Israeli settlement, that I discovered what being "tough on terror" looks like.
From the road there is no indication of what you are about to see: it is only after you pass along the side of another house and turn into a staircase that your feet are suddenly confronted with unexpected obstacles. Thick chunks of bashed up breezeblock pile up on the edge of the path and grey dust covers the ground. At the top of the stairs: devastation. Buckled columns have cast off the walls they once supported, and the front half of the house tilts forward, looking as if it is pondering a complete collapse.
Jacob Burns/Amnesty International
This used to be where Ghassan Abu Jamal lived with his wife and three children. Along with his cousin 'Uday, Ghassan carried out the 18 November 2014 attack on the Har Nof synagogue in Jerusalem, killing five Israeli civilians and an Israeli border police officer before both were shot dead. It was an attack that we at Amnesty International condemned as "abhorrent." With the attackers dead, and beyond further punishment, the Israeli authorities have instead enacted a series of measures that punish their families. No matter how abhorrent the actions of 'Uday and Ghassan, the treatment that I saw that had been meted out to their families was absolutely unjustified.
"On the day of the attack the police raided the house, arrested many of the family members, and took me to the Russian Compound," Mo'awiyeh Abu Jamal, Ghassan's brother, told me. "They held me there for six days, and interrogated me for many hours. During the interrogation both my arms and legs were shackled, and when they were not interrogating me they made me sit on a very small chair, which caused me a lot of pain." This stress position, known as shabeh, is a form of torture: he also described having a bag placed over his head and tied tightly round his neck, and being deprived of sleep for long hours. Amnesty International has documented how Israeli interrogators have tortured and otherwise ill-treated Palestinian detainees for many years with impunity. Mo'awiyeh was released without any charges being brought against him, as were all the other family members arrested that day, which indicates that the Israeli authorities do not have evidence to suggest that any of them were involved in the attacks.
Jacob Burns/Amnesty International
In the early hours of October 6 this year, Israeli police arrived to carry out the demolition order. "They arrived at midnight and for two hours we could hear them breaking all the furniture in the house. Then we heard sounds of drilling, before a big explosion at 5.30 [am]." Despite the Israeli Supreme Court instructing the police to avoid damaging any other apartments in the building during the demolition, Mo'awiyeh's apartment -- adjacent to Ghassan's -- was completely destroyed, and neighbouring houses were damaged. Downstairs, cracks run across the ceiling and down the walls of a cramped bedroom where Mo'awiyeh, his wife and four children now sleep. Catching my breath at the door, I could see a new apartment tower rising in the settlement just up the hill. But down here, the family have not even been allowed to remove the rubble. "My son can't understand what happened," Mo'awiyeh tells me. "He just keeps asking me who did this, and why."
Jacob Burns/ Amnesty International
In addition to the destruction of one house, the Israeli authorities ordered that the rooms where 'Uday lived in his grandfather's house be "sealed." The word "seal" gives the impression of something neat, precise and hygienic, but as I saw this process is anything but. To "seal" a room, the Israeli authorities break a window, insert a hose from a cement mixer, and pump cement into the house. The result looks like a strange cross between a natural disaster and a contemporary art installation, with cement, now dry, two-thirds of the way up the walls, the detritus of everyday life poking out of the surface. At the house of Mutaz Hijazi, a Palestinian killed after he attempted to assassinate a right-wing Israeli activist, architects have told the family that the 90 tons of concrete pumped into his bedroom will slowly drag the house off its foundations and down the steep slope on which it is perched, destroying it completely.
Jacob Burns/ Amnesty International
The Israeli Supreme Court has stated that these demolitions are not aimed at punishing the families of attackers, but are meant to be deterrents: warnings to others considering carrying out attacks on Israelis that their families will pay a price. Such a justification cannot disguise the fact that such demolitions and "sealings" of homes are the very essence of collective punishment: punishing people for the actions of others.
In addition to all those made homeless by the demolition I saw, the Israeli authorities have revoked the residency status of Ghassan's wife and three children, a move that has deprived them of access to healthcare. Such actions, regardless of whether they are being carried out in response to a heinous attack, amount to collective punishment, and are illegal under international law.
Every government has a duty to protect people under its rule from attack, but these measures must respect human rights and international humanitarian law.
Like targeting civilians, collective punishment is absolutely prohibited and can never be justified. When such punishment takes the form of extensive destruction of homes, it is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime. The Israeli authorities must immediately stop punishing those who are not responsible for the attacks: the perverse logic of this type of being "tough on terror" ends up inflicting suffering on the entire Palestinian population.
At least 40 people have been killed and about 100 wounded after Syrian government forces fired missiles into a market near Damascus, according to a conflict monitor and a local rescue group.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces fired 12 missiles in Douma, 10 miles (15km) north-east of the capital.
Douma has suffered intense bombardment in recent months in a wave of strikes. The Syrian army has said the strikes have targeted insurgent groups that launched attacks on nearby government-held areas.
The Syrian Civil Defence group, which posted a picture on its Facebook page showing about a dozen bloodied bodies, said more than 45 people had died in the attack.
Many of Douma’s residents have fled the four-year-old conflict, moving to nearby rural areas. Medics say they have struggled to cope with large numbers of wounded in the intensified strikes.
A marathon day of peace talks are under way in Vienna, with Iran joining rivals Saudi Arabia and the US to try to orchestrate an end to the conflict in Syria.
"As global talks on Syria take place in Vienna, we look at the dangers to medical workers on the front lines of the world’s deadliest conflict. Nearly 700 medical personnel have been killed in Syria since the war erupted in March 2011. The group Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) says there have been more than 300 attacks on health facilities—with the Syrian regime responsible 90 percent of the time. According to Doctors Without Borders, airstrikes in Syria have killed at least 35 patients and medical staff since an escalation in bombings late last month. Russian airstrikes have damaged six Syrian health facilities this month, killing at least four civilians and wounding six medical staffers. We are joined by PHR’s Widney Brown and a Syrian doctor who fled his country under the cover of night....."
The Egyptian citizen has the right, while watching the disaster in Alexandria, to ask: What has the Sisi regime done with the tens of billions it obtained as a prize for carrying out the coup?
Where have more than $41 billion in Gulf aid gone? These were documented in a leaked recording of conversations that took place between Al-Sisi and Abbas in 2013.
And where did the rest go, which came in the subsequent two years, in addition to billions more which Egyptians pumped in to funds and bonds as demanded by Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi? And where have the funds confiscated and seized and held as a result of piracy measures enacted by the thieving state against private companies and properties gone?
They say that the governor of Alexandria, Al-Ta'ir, demanded several million Egyptian pounds before the disaster struck in order to renovate the miserable infrastructure in the gem of the Mediterranean but no one listened to him. So, where have all those funds that hailed upon the coup authority in Egypt gone?
Away from the Rafale fighter jets and the naval deals, and while those displaced by the autumn rains remain stranded in the open, the Egyptian military establishment is delivering glad tidings of the “Majesty” project in the field of tourism.
According to yesterday's Egyptian papers, Major General Kamil Al-Wazir, head of the Armed Forces Engineering Commission, announced the implementation of the Majesty International City Project with the aim reviving the tourism industry. The project is to be executed at an altitude of 700 metres above sea level over an area of about 17,000 feddans ((71.4 square kilometres). The city includes the King Abdallah University, an international medical centre, a zone for international races in addition to housing and service industries.
The spokesman did not miss the opportunity to refer to the desire of “his majesty” who is sitting in the driving seat at the helm of the political establishment and to his constant insistence that the first landmarks of the Majesty International City Project in the Red Sea should appear on 6 August 2016, on the same day as the planned inaugurating the new Suez Canal.
Once more, the comparison is self-imposing: which is more pressing: spending on what may provide the Egyptian citizen with life at its minimum or meeting the wishes of “his majesty” in implementing projects resembling cinematic special effects that drain the average Egyptian citizen leaves them naked under the mercy of mother nature while doing nothing else apart from fulfilling the ambitions of the status quo in capturing big headlines and resonating slogans which are hollow?
Which is more important: spending on providing citizens with health care, food, education and the right to life or spending on the implementation of illusory projects the entire objective of which is the accomplishment of some fake personal glory for someone obsessed with the illusions of leadership and achievement?
And where is the courtesy or the appropriateness in announcing a project with such a magnitude in favour of the military establishment while there are still those who have to go back home swimming in the swamps caused by the rainfall and while there are those who cannot even find their homes or end up finding them missing loved ones, a son or a daughter or a spouse or a father who fell victim to the floods and lost their lives having been swept away?
Once more they insist on blemishing the Egyptian military image by soaking it in “business” and commerce. They insist on giving the people the impression that this is a “contracting army” instead of a “resisting army”. They do so repeatedly as they drag the army into the project of reviving tourism as if it were a trading corporation. They are not even content with what is going on whereby military personnel work in grocery shops, in fuel stations and in weddings halls with the effect of downgrading the value of soldiers on the one hand and provoking anger and bitter hatred on the other as a consequence of the army's hegemony of all aspects of civilian life: in commerce, in agriculture, in tourism and in politics.
Consequently, the citizen feels he is nothing but a customer in a mega military mall without the right to raise issues, discuss or protest against any product or commodity, for whoever does their fate is known; they join the more than 50,000 prisoners and detainees.
We have ended up in a situation where a citizen may be prosecuted for treason and insulting the army if he protests against the price of a pack of cigarettes or a can of fizzy drink in a supermarket run by the armed forces.
For Egypt's sake go back to your barracks. And for the sake of military history leave the kiosks, the grocery shops and the tourist villages to their own folk.
DUBAI/NEW YORK—Airstrikes in Syria have killed at least 35 Syrian patients and medical staff in 12 hospitals in northern Syria since an escalation in bombings began in late September, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today.
According to staff at the hospitals, the attacks, which have also wounded 72 people, targeted medical facilities in Idlib, Aleppo, and Hama governorates, including six supported by MSF. Overall, six hospitals have been forced to close, including three supported by MSF, and four ambulances were destroyed. One hospital has since reopened, yet access to emergency, maternity, pediatric, and primary health care services remains severely disrupted.
"After more than four years of war, I remain flabbergasted at how international humanitarian law can be so easily flouted by all parties to this conflict," said Sylvain Groulx, MSF head of mission for Syria. "We can only wonder whether this concept is dead. So many humanitarians and health actors including MSF have repeatedly called and are calling for an immediate halt to such attacks across the country, but are our voices being heard?"
As a result of the growing number of attacks in the region, tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, said MSF. Some have sought refuge in fields and nearby villages. According to MSF community health workers, others have fled further, with some 1,700 families joining an existing 110,000 internally displaced Syrians in four cluster camps spread around Atmeh, in Idlib Governorate. In the past week alone, 225 additional families have arrived at the camps.
With temperatures beginning to drop, finding adequate shelter and access to health care are urgent priorities. It is already difficult for displaced populations to access health care, and there is limited ability to expand existing camps or build new ones to accommodate the massive numbers of newly displaced persons. Some families are sharing tents, while others are taking refuge in mosques and schools.
"In addition to providing extra medical support through a mobile clinic in southern Aleppo, we’re looking into providing non-food items such as tents," said Groulx. “We’ll also be distributing other items for the upcoming winter, such as blankets. But this kind of support is just a drop in the ocean when you consider what displaced families really need. They need safety. They need security. They need to stop living from one moment to the next, wondering when the next bomb will fall."
MSF operates six medical facilities inside Syria and directly supports more than 150 clinics, health posts and field hospitals. MSF is also working with patients from Syria who have fled to Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.
BRUSSELS/NEW YORK—Heavy bombing of markets and civilian buildings in East Ghouta overwhelmed makeshift hospitals supported by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in August, making it one of the most violent months yet in this besiegedSyrian community near the capital Damascus, MSF said today.
Medical personnel at 13 MSF-supported makeshift hospitals treated at least 150 cases of violent trauma per day in East Ghouta from August 12 to 31, including many children. Other areas north of Damascus are also being denied medical supplies, food, fuel and other essential goods, bringing the number of people living in besieged areas of Syria to approximately two million, MSF said.
"This is one of the bloodiest months since the horrific chemical weapons attack in August 2013," said Dr. Bart Janssens, MSF director of operations. "The hospitals we support are makeshift structures, where getting medicine is a dangerous and challenging endeavor, and it is unthinkable that they would have been able to cope with such intense emergency traumas under such constraints. The Syrian doctors' continued unswerving effort to save lives in these circumstances is deeply inspiring, but the situation that has led to this is totally outrageous."
The data for the mass casualty influxes at six of the 13 MSF-supported hospitals in East Ghouta reveal 377 deaths and 1,932 wounded patients in August. Among them, 104 of the dead and 546 of the wounded were children younger than 15. The intensity of the bombings temporarily cut some communication channels, but based on initial reports from other MSF-supported facilities, it is clear that at least 150 war-wounded patients were treated per day from August 12 to 31.
At the same time, the sieges around Damascus have both tightened and expanded.
Three areas to the north of Damascus with at least 600,000 people—All Tall, Hameh and Qoudsaaya—have been under siege since July 22. People are stopped and searched and prevented from bringing in any food or supplies.
Even more severe siege tactics have been tightened on areas such as Mouadamiyieh, blocking not only medical items and food, but all pedestrian traffic. Medical evacuations are now impossible from most besieged areas, even for patients who urgently need advanced life-saving treatment.
"The stranglehold of siege means these communities are being deprived of the basic goods that are essential to their survival," said Dr. Janssens. "We are aware of around 400 amputations conducted in East Ghouta in August. Many of these people's limbs could have probably been saved if the medical care in besieged areas were not so desperately constrained. Via the medical networks we are still able to get medical supplies through the siege lines, but it is becoming increasingly difficult."
MSF is urgently organizing the resupply of essential medical items to replenish exhausted pharmacy stocks, including more than 5,000 intravenous fluid pouches and 1,500 pouches of blood.
MSF in Syria
MSF operates six medical facilities in the north of Syria and directly supports more than 100 health posts and field hospitals throughout the country, with a particular focus on the besieged areas. These are mostly makeshift facilities with no MSF staff present, where MSF provides both material support and distance training support to help the Syrian medics cope with the extreme medical needs. This support network has been built up over the past four years.
Link كل الشعارات التي رفعتها التنظيمات الشيعية في المنطقة العربية كانت دائما تعزف على وتر حساس وحماسي للشعوب المتعطشة لمساندة القدس والأقصى والقضية الفلسطينية إجمالاً، ومعاداة إسرائيل وشرطيها في العالم: أميركا. انتقلت هذه الشعارات، في السنوات الأخيرة، إلى جماعة الحوثي في اليمن، فشعار الموت لأميركا والموت لإسرائيل، منذ أكثر من عشر سنوات، لم يقتل إسرائيلياً، وإنما قتل عشرات آلاف من اليمنيين، ابتداء بصنعاء وانتهاء بعدن والضالع ولحج وتعز وغيرها من المدن اليمنية. لم يبادر الحوثيون الذين يجاهرون بمعاداة إسرائيل، وراعيها الأكبر أميركا، إلى فعل واحد يحقق هذه الشعارات البراقة، مجوفة المضمون والحقائق. تقول الوقائع على الأرض في اليمن إن ممارساتهم تستهدف كل فعل تضامني حقيقي مع القدس وفلسطين، فالحوثيون، ومنذ سيطرتهم على العاصمة صنعاء في 21 سبتمبر/أيلول 2014، وهم يستهدفون المؤسسات والشخصيات الداعمة والمساندة للقضية الفلسطينية، فبعد دخولهم صنعاء بأسابيع اقتحموا مقر جمعية الأقصى، وعبثوا بمحتوياتها وتهجموا على العاملين فيها، واختطفوا لاحقا رئيس المؤسسة في اليمن، الدكتور محمد العديل، وما يزال منذ نحو ستة أشهر قابعا في معتقلاتهم في صنعاء، فهل ينصرون قضية الأمة بهذه الممارسات غير القانونية؟ رجل الأعمال اليمني ورئيس مؤسسة القدس الدولية، الشيخ حميد الأحمر، هو الآخر ما يزال خارج الوطن، بسبب ملاحقة الحوثيين له، ومصادرة أمواله وشركاته في اليمن، في عمل يصب في إقصاء ومحاصرة العاملين في مجال مساندة القضية الفلسطينية قبل أي شيء آخر، فأين ذهبت شعاراتهم ولعناتهم التي لا يكفون عن ترديدها؟ أخيراً، أصدرت سلطات الأمر الواقع الحوثية قراراً قضى بتجميد أنشطة مؤسسات خيرية عديدة في اليمن، وفي مقدمتها مؤسسة القدس، في قرار يراه مراقبون محاولة للاستيلاء على أموال هذه المؤسسات واستغلالها، لخدمة عجلة حروبهم غير المقدسة ضد أبناء الشعب اليمني، لا ضد العدو الذي تفترضه شعاراتهم و "زواملهم". قناعة اليمنيين اليوم أن الحوثيين يتقنون القتل لأبناء جلدتهم، كما يتقنون إنتاج الشعارات المعادية لإسرائيل، مع فارق مهم، هو أن القتل فعل واقع متحقق، والشعارات كسراب بقيعة. -
Israeli forces have carried out a series of unlawful killings of Palestinians using intentional lethal force without justification, said Amnesty International today, based on the findings of an ongoing research trip to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The organization has documented in depth at least four incidents in which Palestinians were deliberately shot dead by Israeli forces when they posed no imminent threat to life, in what appear to have been extrajudicial executions.
In some cases, the person shot was left bleeding to death on the ground and was not given prompt medical assistance, in violation of the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment. Since 1 October, Israeli forces have killed more than 30 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Israel either after stabbings were carried out or the Israeli authorities allege stabbing attacks were intended.
“A clear pattern has emerged of lethal force being used unlawfully by Israeli forces following a wave of recent stabbing attacks by Palestinians against Israeli civilians and military or police forces in Israel and the occupied West Bank,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.
There is mounting evidence that, as tensions have risen dramatically, in some cases Israeli forces appear to have ripped up the rulebook and resorted to extreme and unlawful measures. They seem increasingly prone to using lethal force against anyone they perceive as posing a threat, without ensuring that the threat is real.
“There is mounting evidence that, as tensions have risen dramatically, in some cases Israeli forces appear to have ripped up the rulebook and resorted to extreme and unlawful measures. They seem increasingly prone to using lethal force against anyone they perceive as posing a threat, without ensuring that the threat is real.
“Intentional lethal force should only be used when absolutely necessary to protect life. Instead we are increasingly seeing Israeli forces recklessly flouting international standards by shooting to kill in situations where it is completely unjustified. Israeli forces must end this pattern of unlawful killings and bring all those responsible to justice.”
In an especially egregious case, Israeli forces shot dead 19-year-old Sa’ad Muhammad Youssef al-Atrash in the Old City of Hebron as he attempted to retrieve an ID card at an Israeli soldier’s request on 26 October. The Israeli police labelled the incident an “attempted stabbing” but an eyewitness watching the events unfold from her balcony said he had posed no threat when he was shot. One of the soldiers had asked him for ID, and as he reached into his pocket to grab his card another soldier standing behind him shot him on his right side, she told Amnesty International. The eyewitness said he was shot six or seven times and bled profusely as he lay on the ground for about 40 minutes afterwards, while soldiers failed to provide medical treatment. She also reported seeing soldiers bring a knife and place it in the dying man’s hand.
“Then they put him on a stretcher and pushed him towards an ambulance but didn’t put him in. By this time he looked extremely yellow and I thought that he was dead at that point. He remained in front of the ambulance for another 20 minutes before he was put inside it and taken away,” the witness said.
On 25 October, a short distance from where al-Atrash was killed, Israeli border police shot dead Dania Jihad Hussein Ershied, 17. Shortly before she was killed, she had passed through a checkpoint equipped with a metal detector and two revolving gates, between which Israeli forces frequently lock people they deem suspicious. At a second checkpoint in front of Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque she was called for a second inspection by more than five border police officers, who began searching her bag and yelling at her to show her knife.
Warning shots were fired at her feet, prompting her to step back and raise her hands in the air. She was shouting at the police that she did not have a knife and still had her arms raised when police again opened fire, shooting her six or seven times.
A photo of Ershied’s body shows a knife lying near the body, and the Israeli police spokesperson has stated that she attempted to stab a border policeman. However, even if Dania Jihad Hussein Ershied had a knife in her possession, eyewitness accounts indicate she was not posing a threat to Israeli forces when she was shot, and her killing is therefore absolutely unjustified.
Amnesty International has gathered evidence of other recent shootings in which Israeli forces used unwarranted lethal force in what were likely extrajudicial executions.
On 4 October, Fadi Alloun, 19, from Issawiyya in East Jerusalem, was shot and killed by Israeli police near Jerusalem’s Old City, in another apparent extrajudicial execution. Israeli police said that he had a knife in his hand when he was shot, after stabbing a 16-year-old Israeli boy who was lightly injured. But video of the incident shows him being chased by a group of Israeli civilians before police arrived on the scene and shot him from some metres away, without attempting to arrest him.
Hadeel al-Hashlamoun was shot dead on 22 September at a checkpoint in Hebron. Israeli forces said she was attempting to stab a soldier when they repeatedly shot her, but two eyewitnesses contradicted this account. Amnesty International has previously said the evidence indicates her killing was an extrajudicial execution.
“Israeli forces and civilians have faced genuine attacks and threats to their lives over the past weeks. But heavily armed soldiers and police wearing body armour facing a possible knife attack have a duty to use proportionate and graduated force and attempt to arrest suspects before resorting to the use of lethal force,” said Philip Luther.
Israeli forces and civilians have faced genuine attacks and threats to their lives over the past weeks. But heavily armed soldiers and police wearing body armour facing a possible knife attack have a duty to use proportionate and graduated force and attempt to arrest suspects before resorting to the use of lethal force.
“Unfortunately, Israel’s investigation systems have long served to perpetuate impunity for unlawful killings of Palestinians by Israeli military and police forces. While we urge the Israeli authorities to conduct independent, impartial investigations into all these incidents, wilful killings of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, over which all states can exercise universal jurisdiction.”
