NEWS
“You can feel the weight of war there”: Waad al-Kateab visits Ukraine with Syrian Civil Society members
To commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Chemical Weapon attacks in Syria, Waad joined other Syrian civil society members (including Madaniya and The Syrian British Consortium) to engage high-level officials as well as key Ukrainian stakeholders, in Kyiv, which that concluded with an engagement at the Third Summit of the Crimea Platform with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Read the full press statement here.
Waad shares her reflections on the trip…
“Our trip to the Ukraine was truly amazing - for me and for everyone in the group. I will be honest, I was very scared at first. I was hesitant to go. But at the same time, I knew in my heart how important it was to build this communication and relationship with the people of Ukraine, and see the reality of what is happening there.
In Lviv when we arrived, what I noticed straight away was the tiredness in people’s faces and the effects of war on them. Although when you look at the city, you don’t see the same destruction as you see in Aleppo, you can really feel the weight of war there. As we went down the long road from Lviv to Kyiv, just being there - in Ukraine - felt like a very big moment to me.
While visiting Ukraine, we attended many critical meetings and had the honour of meeting so many interesting and inspiring people. There were a few particular moments that stood out to me…
Meeting medical staff at the new Mariupol Hospital in Kyiv.
One distinct memory from my trip was our visit to see the relocated Mariupol intensive care Hospital. When I heard the story of this hospital before I went to visit, I was so emotional. This was the last hospital standing in Mariupol until it experienced continued attacks from Russian air and land forces. There was something that I related to so much within my own experience here, with what I have called home before - our hospital, our community - and how I lost it. Three of the doctors miraculously survived. Not only survived, but they then went to start a new hospital in Kyiv which works as a temporary space until they can go back. I was amazed to hear their testimonies. And when the manager of the hospital was telling us about how they escaped and about their last days, everything came flooding back. It was as if they were telling my own story back to me.
Another moment which stood out to me was a trip to Bucha, where the massacre happened. We visited the large graveyard there and paid tribute to those lost. We met Father Andriy, who had survived the massacre and dedicated his time to giving burial services for the people that were found. We stepped into the church and were shown images of the massacre on display. This brought back very strong memories of our last days in Aleppo.
On one of our days, we met with Tamila Tasheva, Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Ukraine, and Maria Tomak, the Head of the Crimea Platform Department.
We were invited to visit the Crimean Ambassador at their embassy in Kyiv. The Ambassador was so welcoming, telling us all about Crimea and engaging in deep conversation about Syria. And then her Deputy, Maria, shared with me that she had seen For Sama. She said that it had shown her what it means to be in that kind of conflict situation and expressed her pain for the fact that Crimea and Syria have both not been shown enough attention or support. When we were leaving, she came to me in tears. She said that she wasn’t able to prepare anything but on meeting me in that moment, she felt she wanted to give me something. It was her scarf. She said it was very special, as part of its design is the same as part of the last mosaic from Mariupol - a mosaic that sadly no longer exists. On hearing this, I collapsed crying. It was all too much for me to hold in.
This was a very special trip and one that helped us to understand the similarities and the differences between both situations. But no matter what differences there may be, one thing we can’t argue with is how much pain we share, how much fight we have within us, and how many dreams and goals we are all trying to achieve - together.
Waad
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Middle east monitor: Syria rights groups call on UN to investigate Tadamon massacre
Syrian human rights organisations have called on the United Nations to investigate the Tadamon massacre in Damascus in 2013 carried out by members of the regime's Branch 227.
"We are writing to demand immediate action to address this massacre, which amounts to a war crime, and hold perpetrators accountable at the UN Security Council," said the letter, which was addressed to the US permanent representative to the UN, Linda Thomas Greenfield.
Among the signatories are the White Helmets, Action for Sama, and the Syrian Network for Human Rights.
Two weeks ago, the Guardian published a report on how two academics hunted down a Syrian war criminal filmed brutally killing 41 people.
In the footage the intelligence officer, later identified Amjad Youssuf, can be seen asking civilians to run towards a pit in the ground, shooting at them and then watching as they hit a pile of other dead bodies.
The video, leaked by a military recruit after he escaped the country, shows two main perpetrators of the massacre setting light to the pile of bodies, then casually laughing and smoking.
everal Syrians have been able to identify family members from the video, many of whom are Palestinians from the Yarmouk refugee camp.
The letter laments the lack of outcry from the international community, particularly "in the context of similar crimes being committed by Russian forces in Ukraine."
In 2013, the Tadamon district, where the massacre took place, was a combat zone where Syrian opposition forces faced the government.
The letter to the UN goes on to say that for years human rights organisations have documented targeted attacks on schools and hospitals and seen photos of tortured bodies being smuggled out of the country,
"But never before have we seen such clear evidence of a war crime committed and videotaped by Assad's intelligence services in broad daylight, in cold blood, with no regard for the humanity of the victims or concern for consequences."
In September last year the UN said that at least 350,209 people had been killed in the Syrian war, likely to be an underestimation. More than 100,000 Syrians are missing.
The world: Jackie Chan is producing a movie in Syria. Some Syrians are outraged.
Growing up in Syria, Mohammad al-Abdallah loved watching Jackie Chan movies. They were dubbed in Arabic, and Chan’s acrobatic style of martial arts just blew him away.
“Like, even in school, sometimes people tried to copy him. So, he was a legend to our generation,” Abdallah said.
Abdallah comes from a family of activists in Syria. He was jailed and tortured by the government, he said, and had to flee to the US. He now directs the Syria Justice and Accountability Center, a human rights organization in Washington.
Syria is home for Abdallah, but one that he can’t return to. At least not now. So, this past week, when he found out that Chan was producing a film in his home country, his ears perked up; but after he learned the details, he was disappointed.
Chan’s production team began filming “Home Operation,” in Syria this past week. The location is a city called Al-Hajar al-Aswad, outside of the capital, Damascus. The area was a stronghold for the opposition during the war. The news has outraged some Syrians like Abdallah, who say their destroyed homes are not props for foreign film productions.
Last week, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, himself, strolled through the ruins of Aleppo, another city destroyed in the war. Photos posted online showed him and his family in casual summer linen, looking as if they are on a Mediterranean vacation.
“They walk around like, ‘Oh, where did this destruction come from?’ As if they didn’t have a hand in it,” Malek said.
For Syrian filmmaker Waad al-Kateab, influencers and artists flocking to Syria for content is just painful.
“It’s really difficult just to think about it,” she said.
Kateab made a documentary about the uprisings in Syria called “For Sama,” that was nominated for an Oscar in 2020. She fled her home in Aleppo and now lives in the UK.
She said that she’s also troubled about “Home Operation” being shot in Syria.
“We’re worried to see our own neighborhoods, where we grew up, our own houses, which were destroyed by the regime, [become] like a part of a film set,” she said.
Chan’s publicist didn’t respond to an interview request for this story.
We demand accountability for the Syrian regime's massacre of at least 41 people in Tadamon
The Honorable Linda Thomas-Greenfield
United States Permanent Representative to the UN
United States Mission to the UN
799 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
May 9, 2022
Dear Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield,
We, the undersigned Syrian humanitarian, human rights, and civil society organizations, are deeply shocked by the massacre of at least 41 civilians in Tadamon neighborhood in Damascus, committed in April 2013 by members of branch 227 of Syria’s military intelligence service (mukhabarat), the details of which were recently revealed in a report by The Guardian. We are writing to demand immediate action to address this massacre, which amounts to a war crime, and hold perpetrators accountable at the UN Security Council.
The footage clearly showed the two main perpetrators marching blindfolded, zip-tied men and women toward a giant hole they did not know was in front of them. One by one the civilians were deliberately shot dead. Their bodies were buried on top of each other in a mass grave then incinerated as the perpetrators laughed and smoked.
For nearly 11 years our organizations have collectively documented mass atrocities and human rights violations in Syria and advocated for protection and accountability. The White Helmets have pulled countless civilians from under the rubble of Syrian and Russian airstrikes, we’ve documented deliberate attacks on schools, hospitals, and civilian infrastructure, and we’ve seen in horror photos of tortured bodies of detainees smuggled out by the military defector Caesar. But never before have we seen such clear evidence of a war crime committed and videotaped by Assad’s intelligence services in broad daylight, in cold blood, with no regard for the humanity of the victims or concern for consequences.
In the days since the report came out, families started seeking the faces of their missing loved ones among those being led to their deaths in Tadamon. Many Syrians are rightfully expressing outrage about the lack of response from the international community to such a shocking report, especially in the context of similar crimes being committed by Russian forces in Ukraine. It’s high time that the international community learned that impunity for grave human rights violations in Syria has far-reaching consequences beyond its borders.
Syrians have endured horrific crimes like the massacre in Tadamon at the hands of the Assad regime, committed with total impunity, for 11 years, and for years the world has ignored their suffering. There can be no peace in Syria without justice. We urge the United States, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to convene a meeting at the Council during its presidency in May to address the Tadamon massacre and to launch an independent probe into the killings that brings perpetrators and those who gave them orders to justice. We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Act for Syria / Do Not Suffocate Truth
Action for Sama
Association of Detainees and the Missing in Sednaya Prison (ADMSP)
Caesar Families Association
Dawlaty
Families for Freedom
Hevdestî-Synergy
Hurras Network
Idlib Health Directorate
Mazaya
Syria Faith Initiative
Syrian Legal Development Programme (SLDP)
Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR)
The Coalition of Families of Persons Kidnapped by ISIS
The Syria Campaign
The White Helmets
Women Now for Development
The UK's Channel 4: five iconic moments from the broadcaster's coverage of the Middle East and Arab communities
Alastair Campbell’s infamous WMD interview
Perhaps one of the broadcaster’s most notorious interviews occurred in 2003. Alastair Campbell, communications director in Tony Blair’s government, was questioned over the media coverage of the Iraq invasion. Campbell was on the defensive following allegations that the UK government “deliberately exaggerated, abused and distorted intelligence” to justify the invasion. He said they had not.
The UK Chilcot inquiry into the 2003 invasion later concluded that the UK government misrepresented the severity of the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.
The US-led invasion killed at minimum tens of thousands of people and fuelled sectarianism and extremism across the Middle East.
Channel 4 hires the first hijab-wearing TV newsreader, Fatima Manji
Fatima Manji, who started her career at the BBC, rose to prominence when she became a leading news presenter for Channel 4 in March 2016.
When asked why representation in journalism matters, Manji told The Guardian: “It matters because it’s really important that newsrooms reflect the populations they serve…It allows us to be better journalists - that’s why it’s important”.
Channel 4 commissions Waad al-Kateab as an exclusive film-maker in Syria
In 2015, Channel 4 commissioned Waad Al-Kateab, a young journalist in Aleppo, to make a film about life inside the city. As the war continued, the broadcaster took the decision to hire her exclusively to document life under siege.
Much of what Kateab covered came from the emergency room of the hospital where her doctor husband worked. Channel 4 praised the Syrian for humanising the victims, “showing us whole families in their worst moments”.
Kateab’s reports later became the basis of the award-winning film For Sama, which followed her experiences as a mother-to-be in Aleppo.
Jon Snow speaks out for the children of Gaza
Following the bombardment of Gaza in 2014, when over 2,000 Palestinians were killed, lead anchor Jon Snow made an impassioned speech about the children of Gaza on the channel's flagship news programme.
“I’m back and in the comfort of this studio, it’s hard to imagine I was ever away…
“In a very densely packed urban area, if you decide to throw missiles and shells, then undoubtedly you will kill children.”
As of 2014, roughly 43 percent of Gaza’s 1.8 million population was aged 14 or younger.
Channel 4 commissions Gogglebox, featuring hijab-wearing sisters from London
One of the broadcaster's run-away successes has been the smash hit Gogglebox - a show about people watching TV.
The first series launched in March 2013, and the nineteenth series began airing in February 2022.
Some of the show’s stand-out stars are Amani and Amira, two hijab-wearing sisters from north London.
The show has won several awards and was praised by critics for showing a diverse, modern representation of Britain.
Waad Al-Kateab at the UN: "This Council remains a spectator to the suffering of the Syrian people."
On November 29 2021, Waad al-Kateab spoke at the UN Security Council’s Arria Formula meeting on Accountability in Syria.
Joining fellow Syrian activist, Omar Alshogre, in New York City, along with representatives from IIIM and University of Cologne, Waad spoke of her frustration at the inaction of the UN and demanded that perpetrators of the war crimes committed in Syria, are held to account.
Watch Waad’s full speech and read the transcript below:
Waad’s Speech (English)
“Good afternoon,
I am expected to start this session today by telling you how it is an honour to be here. But I can’t. Not if I want to be genuine to the suffering of my people.
My biggest honour was, and still is, that I am part of the Syrian revolution. Which made me hold onto hope with my fellow Syrians - chanting in the streets, daring to dream of dignity, freedom, and a state of law.
I am known by Waad al-Kateab, which is not my name. A name I choose to hide my identity from the security forces’’ the same Mokhabrat that Omar just talked about, who arrested him and tortured him. Omar who survived today and who gives us so much courage and hope.
I talk to you today as an activist, who protested, who was beaten, who was shot at, demanding democracy for my country.
I talk to you as a mother, who gave birth to my first child in a makeshift hospital in East Aleppo where I was living with my husband Hamza. Hamza, who is here today, he was an emergency doctor managing the last remaining hospital, which was deliberately targeted many times by the Syrian regime, supported by Russia.
I am talking to you as a refugee who was forcibly displaced after the besiegement of Aleppo in 2016. And now, I’m hearing so many of your countries’ officials and media talking about how safe it is for us to be returned to Syria. Syria is not safe as long as Assad is still ruling.
And I talk to you as a filmmaker, who thought my mission was to deliver the injustice I documented to the world.
I and many Syrians, we used to have faith that the world won’t let us down - that you, the security council would do everything to stop the war crimes and the genocide in Syria.
One of the women I filmed while we were in besieged Aleppo, shouted to deliver this to you [referring to For Sama clip shown at the end of the speech]. She said, with a baby of 6 months old, “Film. Film - let the whole world see this.”
At that moment, I was worried that I would let her down. That I won’t be able to survive, and her message might die with me.
However, the major disappointment came after I shared her shouting out, to the world, and to you. You refused to acknowledge. And this council refused to act.
I talk to you today as one of millions of Syrian witnesses and survivors of what is defined as war crimes and crimes against humanity by laws that you states have created.
But where is the outrage when your laws are broken?
Where is the action?
This Council remains a spectator to the suffering of the Syrian people. And if you think I am angry - yes for sure, you are right. You have let us down.
Your council held countless meetings through all these events of my life. There are 42 reports only by the UN commission of inquiry - this does not include Amnesty, Physicians for Human Rights, OPCW and tens of Syrian organizations’ reports.
And yet, some of you now discuss renewing diplomatic relations with the Syrian regime and granting lucrative contracts to warlords to reconstruct the country that Asaad’s regime and what he has destroyed in our country.
Because this council has failed to hold those responsible to account, we Syrians, along with states and international lawyers, have been exploring alternative ways to do so ourselves.
For example, closely with the legal team at Guernica 37, we are working to hold Russia accountable for its targeting of hospitals and medical workers before the European Court of Human Rights, a court stemming out of a treaty that Russia agreed to.
The Russian State, the Russian judicial authorities have done nothing to investigate and prosecute such conduct into the intentional loss of life.
So we must now seek to hold the State accountable for its failures.
And we will do so.
We are also working, with some states present here, to establish collective international action against individuals responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
The evidence is there, the perpetrators are known, all that remains is the will.
It is essential that there is a credible international process to investigate and prosecute the use of chemical, biological and other forms of prohibited weapons in Syria, and we have identified ways to do so.
I am here to ask you, how are you going to be part of the accountability efforts?
We are here today to seek accountability, not only to heal the past but also to protect the political hope for the future.
One day Syrians will go out into the street. They will shout again “الشعب يريد اسقاط النظام
It’s our responsibility to make sure they won’t face war crimes. It is your responsibly, in your power, to prevent genocide not only in Syria but in the whole world.
What messages are you sending to us, to your people, and to your children? What will the next conflict look like if impunity persists?
It’s OK to torture people? It’s OK to kill children? It’s OK to bomb hospitals?
What sort of legacy are you leaving behind for the next generation?
Today, as we speak, there’s over 3 million civilians still living in IDLIB, facing the daily threat of their schools and hospitals being targeted, their villages of being bombed.
We don’t want them, we don’t want one of them to be sitting in my place next year briefing you again about what happened in the next year. We want you all to do your part to save them all.
I’m copying what Omar asked for, what Catherine and Professor Klaus said. You have to save them all.
Sama, my 6 year old daughter, asked me before I come here, why I have to go to New York City. I said, do you remember the kids in Idlib? Who the monster just killed? I have to go to speak about them.
She sadly said, “But they are already dead? Why do you need to go?”
For a second I didn’t know what to say, then I told her, I’m trying to do my part so other children won’t be killed.
So I leave you today with this question and adding another one to what Omar asked:
If your children asked you the same thing. Will you be able to look them into the eyes and say that you as state members of the security council are able to do your part?
Thank you Mr President.
Waad
Waad’s further comments to the Council:
From here, the term Veto which I heard several time now might seem like a mere technicality. However, it wasn’t. On the 5th of December 2016 Russia and China Vetoed this council’s resolution for a 7 days truce in Aleppo.
7 Days only for safety and allowing aid for me, my family and the people back in Aleppo. I join the member states who asked for limiting the veto power regarding mass human rights atrocities. So 7 days of peace won’t be such a difficult task to achieve. A second point, according to the Physicians for human rights report, more than 90% of the attacks on hospitals in Syria are the responsibility of the Syrian regime and its allies Russia and Iran.
Those who are demanding accountability, we’re demanding it for all attacks. We are not the ones who are blocking international justice to the 90% of these attacks. Finally, Syria was not a civil war, it’s not a civil war. So please stop referring to this in your statements. It was peaceful demonstration, the whole world witnessed this and it’ll always be.
We’re not the ones protecting criminals. And one day, as I see you all here, I’m sure that we, the survivors of Syria will be joining these meetings as a free country. As people who respect human rights, who respect a future for all of us.
شكراً لك السيد رئيس الجلسة
عمتم مساءً
من المتوقع أن أبدأ حديثي اليوم بالقول بأني أتشرّف بوجودي هنا
ولكني لا أستطيع قول هذا
ليس إن أردت أن أكون صادقة حيال المعاناة التي عاشها شعبي
شرفي الأكبر كان ولازال هو مشاركتي في الثورة السورية
التي منحتني القدرة على التمسك بالأمل مع الشعب السوري
حيث صرخنا في الشوارع, متجرّئين أن نحلم بالكرامة ، الحرية ، وبدولة يسودها القانون
أنا أُعرف باسم وعد الخطيب ، وهو ليس اسمي الحقيقي
وإنما اسم اخترته لنفسي لأخفي هويتي من قوات الأمن
المخابرات ذاتها التي تحدث عنها عمر منذ قليل
المخابرات ذاتها التي اعتقلته وعذبته
عمر الناجي الموجود معنا اليوم ، والذي أمدّنا بالشجاعة ، والأمل
أجلس أمامكم اليوم كناشطة تظاهرت ، تعرضت للضرب ، وتم استهدافها بالرصاص
بينما كنت أطالب بالديمقراطية من أجل بلدي
أتحدث إليكم كأم
ولدتُ طفلتي الأولى في مشفى ميداني في حلب الشرقية
حيث كنت أعيش مع زوجي حمزة
حمزة الذي يجلس معنا اليوم ، كان آنذاك طبيب طوارئ يدير المشفى الأخير هناك
المشفى ذاته الذي تم إستهدافه من قبل النظام السوري المدعوم من قبل روسيا
أتحدث إليكم كلاجئة ، تمّ تهجيرها قسرياً بعد حصار مدينة حلب في عام ٢٠١٦
واليوم, أستمع إلى تصريحات العديد من مسؤولي دولكم وصحافتكم
وهي تتحدث أنّ سوريا آمنة لنا كي نعود إليها
سوريا ليست آمنة ما دام الأسد في السلطة
أتحدث إليكم كصانعة أفلام
أعتقدت أن دوري يقتصر فقط على توثيق الظلم وإيصاله للعالم
كنت أؤمن أنا والكثير من السوريين بأنّ العالم لن يخذلنا
بأنكم بصفتكم مجلس الأمن سوف تفعلون كل ما هو ممكن لمنع جرائم الحرب والمجازر في سوريا
أحد النساء الذين قمت بتصويرهم أثناء الحصار في حلب صرخت لتوصل لكم هذه الرسالة
قالت ويظهر بجانبها طفلها ذو ال6 أشهر: صوّري ، صوّري كي يرى العالم ما يحدث
في تلك اللحظة ، كنت قلقة بأنني سوف أخذلها
بأني لن أنجو ، وأن رسالتها ستموت معي
ولكن ، هذه لم تكن الخيبة الأكبر ، كانت الخيبة الأكبر بعد مشاركتي لصرختها معكم ومع العالم
ترفضون الإقرار بما حصل ، ويرفض هذا المجلس أن يتحرّك ويفعل شيئاً
أتحدث إليكم اليوم وأنا واحدة من ملايين الشهود والناجين السوريين
من ما يعرف بقوانينكم كدول أعضاء بجرائم حرب وجرائم ضد الإنسانية
ولكن أين غضبكم عندما يتم خرق هذه القوانين؟
أين تحرككم وأفعالكم؟
يقف هذا المجلس كمتفرجٍ سلبيّ على الشعب السوري
وإن كنتم تعتقدون بأني غاضبة ، فأنتم محقون تماماً
لقد خذلتمونا
قام مجلسكم بعقد جلسات لا تحصى أثناء الأهوال التي عشتها في حياتي
صدر عن لجنة التحقيق وبعثة تقصي الحقائق التابعة للأمم المتحدة وحدها ٤٢ تقريراً
هذا العدد لا يتضمن تقارير منظمة العفو الدولية ، منظمة أطباء من أجل حقوق الإنسان ، منظمة حظر الأسلحة الكيميائية ، وعشرات المنظمات السورية
مع كل هذا ، يتحدث بعضكم عن إعادة العلاقات الدبلوماسية مع النظام السوري
و عن تقديم عقود تعود بأرباح طائلة على أمراء الحرب لإعادة إعمار النظام السوري وما دمّره في بلادنا
بسبب فشل هذا المجلس بمحاسبة المسؤولين عن الجرائم
نقوم نحن كسوريين بالبحث بأنفسنا عن بديل لمحاسبة المجرمين بالتعاون مع بعض الدول وبعض المحاميين الدوليين
على سبيل المثال ، نعمل بالتعاون مع الفريق القانوني في منظمة (جيرنيكا ٣٧)
لمحاسبة روسيا على استهدافها المباشر للمشافي وللعاملين في القطاع الصحي
وذلك في المحكمة الأوروبية لحقوق الإنسان ، محكمة تم إيجادها بناءً على إتفاقية كانت روسيا جزءًا منها
لم تقم روسيا ، ولا النظام القضائي الروسي بعمل أي تحقيقات أو محاكمات تجاه الخسائر الدولية للأرواح
لذلك علينا العمل الآن لنحاسب الدولة الروسية على فشلها ، وسوف نقوم بذلك
نعمل أيضاً مع بعض الدول الأخرى الموجودة هنا ، للتحرك بشكل جماعي ودولي
ضد أشخاص مسؤولين عن إستخدام السلاح الكيميائي في سوريا
الدليل موجود ، والمجرمون أيضاً موجودون ، الشيء الوحيد المفقود هو الرغبة في التحرك
من المهم جداً إيجاد آلية تحقيق ومحاكمة دوليين في شأن إستخدام الأسلحة الكيميائية ، البيولوجية ، وغيرها من الأسلحة المحرّمة دولياً في سوريا
وقد قمنا بتحديد خطوات للقيام بذلك
أنا هنا اليوم لأسألكم ، كيف ستأخذون دوركم في الجهود المبذولة من أجل المحاسبة والمسؤولية؟
نحنا هنا اليوم للوصول إلى المحاسبة ، ليس فقط كي نتعافى من الماضي
وإنما لحماية الأمل السياسي من أجل المستقبل
في يوم من الأيام ، سيخرج السوريون إلى الشوارع مجدداََ
كي يصرخوا مرة أخرى: الشعب يريد إسقاط النظام
إنها مسؤوليتنا اليوم ، أن نضمن بألا يواجهوا جرائم حرب حينها
إنها مسؤوليتكم من حيث موقعكم في السلطة ، أن تمنعوا المجازر لا في سوريا فقط وإنما في العالم كاملاً
ما هي الرسائل التي تريدون إيصالها لنا ، لشعوب العالم ، ولأطفالكم؟
كيف سيكون شكل الصراع القادم إن لم نضع حداً للإفلات من العقاب
هل سيكون مسموحاً تعذيب الناس؟ قتل الأطفال؟ قصف المشافي؟
أي إرث هذا الذي سوف تتركونه للجيل الذي سيأتي بعدكم
اليوم ، وأثناء حديثنا هناك ٣ ملايين مدني يعيشون في إدلب
يواجهون بشكل يومي خطر استهداف مشافيهم ومدارسهم
خطر أن تقصف قراهم
لا نريد أن يأتي أحدهم في العام المقبل ويجلس في مقعدي هذا ليحدثكم عن الجرائم التي ارتكبت خلال هذه الفترة!
نريد منكم أن تقوموا جميعاً بدوركم لإنقاذهم
أوافق وأكرر ما قاله عمر ، ما قالته كاثرين ، وما قاله بروفيسور كلاوس
يجب عليكم إنقاذهم جميعاً
سما ، طفلتي ذات ال٦ أعوام سألتني قبل قدومي إلى هنا: لماذا عليكِ الذهاب إلى نيويورك؟
أجبتها ، هل تذكرين الأطفال في إدلب الذين قتلهم الوحش منذ فترة قريبة؟
عليّ أن أذهب لأتحدث عنهم
أجابتني بحزن: لكنهم لقد ماتوا بالفعل ، لماذا يجب عليكِ الذهاب؟
لوهلة ، لم تسعفني كلماتي بإجابة
ثمّ قلت لها: أنا أحاول جاهدةََ أن أعمل كل ما بوسعي كي لا يتم قتل أطفال آخرين
لذا أترككم اليوم عند هذا السؤال ، كسؤالٍ إضافي لما قاله عمر
إن قام أطفالكم بسؤالكم السؤال نفسه
هل ستستطيعون النظر في أعينهم
والقول بأنكم كدول أعضاء في مجلس الأمن قد كنتم قادرين على عمل دوركم على أكمل وجه؟
شكراً لك السيد رئيس الجلسة
…
هنا في هذا المكان, مصطلح "فيتو" الذي سمعته إلى الآن في مناسبات كثيرة
يبدو وكأنه شيء تقني للغاية
ولكنه لم يكن كذلك
في الخامس كانون الأول (ديسيمبر) عام ٢٠١٦ قامت روسيا والصين باستخدام الفيتو ضد قرار هذا المجلس من أجل هدنة لمدة ٧ أيام
٧ أيام فقط من الأمان ولضمان دخول مساعدات لي ولعائلتي وللمدنيين المتواجدين في حلب حينها
أشارك الدول الأعضاء التي اقترحت تحديد السلطة التي يملكها حق الفيتو فيما يخص الفظائع الجماعية المتعلقة بحقوق الإنسان
وذلك كي لا تكون ٧ أيام من السلام مهمة صعبة الإنجاز لهذه الدرجة
النقطة الثانية ، بحسب تقارير منظمة أطباء من أجل حقوق الإنسان
أكثر من ٩٠% من الهجمات على المشافي في سوريا
كان المسؤول عنها النظام السوري وحلفائه روسيا وإيران
نحن كأشخاص نطالب بالمحاسبة ، نطالب بالمحاسبة على كل الهجمات
لسنا نحن من يمنع نظام العدالة الدولية من محاسبة مرتكبي ٩٠% من هذه الهجمات
في النهاية أريد أن أقول أن ما حدث في سوريا ليس حرباً أهلية
أرجوا منكم التوقف عن استخدام هذا المصطلح في بياناتكم
لقد كانت مظاهرات سلمية شهدها العالم بأكمله
وسوف تبقى كذلك
لسنا نحن الجهة التي تحاول حماية المجرمين
وأنا متأكدة تماماََ ، كما أستطيع الآن رؤيتكم أمامي
أننا كناجين سوريين ، سوف نشارك يوماً ما في هذه الجلسات كبلد حر
كشعب يحترم حقوق الإنسان ، ويحترم مستقبلاً مشتركاً لنا جميعاً
ولن نقوم حينها بحماية المجرمين
Meet Dr.Ahmad, one of the medical professionals fighting on the COVID-19 front in Syria
My name is Ahmad Sayeyd Yusef, I live in Idlib in the northwest of Syria. I graduated medical school and I used to be an orthopedics surgery resident. Currently I’m working as an Internist and on the frontlines of COVID-19 in Syria.
I’ll start by introducing the idea of the isolation centers. Each center consists of four female and four male nurses, infection control officers, janitors, a manager, and an on call doctor. We are three doctors, each one of us takes two 24-hours shifts to cover the isolation center for the whole week. We start everyday by the morning rounds, we check up on the patients and conduct a clinical examination for each one of them, and then we update their meds list in accordance with test and examination results.
Here’s how the morning rounds usually go, we start by wearing a protective suit and a N95 mask suitable for the pandemic. We start from the area designated for the people suspecting a COVID-19 infection, and then we move on to the area of the confirmed cases. During this time, one of the nurses keeps registering new patients. We accept patients or refuse to do so depending on the center’s capacity as well as the severity of each case.
We accept the cases that we can handle. We start by clinically examining the patient and then performing a PCR test. If the result is positive we give the people a choice, they can either isolate themselves at the center, or at home if possible. Most people prefer to isolate themselves at the center, only a few expressed their ability to do self-isolation at home. When they choose to do so and prove that their home is suitable for isolation, we provide the needed instructions and we let them sign a pledge to complete all of the isolation days at home.
Generally, we only accept non-critical and moderate cases of COVID to our center. We don’t accept critical cases in an isolation center as these kinds of cases need a hospital to get the proper care. According to WHO’s protocols critical cases should be treated in a hospital and not in an isolation center. Though we do follow those protocols, one day a patient came to our center. He was an elderly with blood pressure problems and an oxygenation level below 50. He had roamed all the hospitals and isolation centers with no luck of finding an available bed. We didn’t even have any oxygen cylinders at the time, but we had to accept him and do whatever we could to save his life. The whole center started working to acquire an oxygen cylinder at any cost, and we stayed all night providing care for him until we were able to find a slot for him in a hospital the next morning. This was one of the hardest days for us as a team, full of pressure, stress and heroic efforts. It was an example of how we sometimes have to do things we don’t do under normal circumstances. Thankfully, that patient recovered completely, Abu Ramiz is now back to his little shop.
We faced a lot of difficulties while responding to the COVID-19 crisis. For example, some lockdown rules should’ve been deployed in the area to slow down the spread, but that didn’t happen. At first COVID started spreading quickly among the youth filling the isolation centers with patients, but then COVID made its way to the elderly which was a huge disaster. During that period, as the number of deaths started to fly we started to feel helpless and guilty. There were some attempts to hide the number of deaths at first, but after a short period of time the correct numbers started to show.
I can summarize a part of the challenges we faced as follows: The insufficient number of beds in hospitals in general and more especially ICU beds. The lack of enough oxygen sources. The lack of enough medicine. Insufficient resources in general was one of the hardest challenges. At one point it was difficult to get our hands on protective suits to protect ourselves while treating patients. Some of the challenges were even more basic, like the lack of proper heating in the medical centers. Something as fundamental as food was even a problem during the pandemic as all patients were eating the same meals. Normally, you’d have special meals for each patient depending on their medical status, so you’d have a meal specially prepared for cardiac patients, one that’s specially prepared for diabetic patients and so on. In our case during the pandemic we offered the same meals to all patients no.
Here’s how all our week looks like: At the end of the week all of Idlib’s hospitals, isolation centers, and ICUs get packed with patients. Then someone brings a member of their families as they are in the jaws of death with an oxygen level in the 50s, and asks us to accept them into the center. We don’t have the capacity to handle such cases, we don’t have the needed equipment. That patient gets stuck between packed hospitals where there are no available beds, and isolation centers that can’t provide them with the proper care.
Note: We had this conversation with Dr Ahmad at the beginning of 2021, COVID had recently made its way into Syria back then. We tried to get a new update about the current situation from Dr Ahmad, but he’s very busy dealing with a huge surge in cases in Syria as the Delta variant started spreading in Syria worsening the situation dramatically. We’ll try to get as many updates as we can about the matter and share them with our audience soon.
We met Dr.Ahmad through our friends at Violet as he works in one of their isolation centers. Huge thanks to all of the health workers in Syria and around the world for their huge efforts in fighting the pandemic.
Meet Dr. Abo Saad, the surgeon you watched in For Sama as he was saving a pregnant woman and her infant
I’m Dr. Abo Saad. I have been a general surgeon since 1993 and I have now been living in both Idlib and Aleppo’s countryside since we were forcibly displaced from Aleppo. This is my story over the course of ten years of the revolution.
Since day one of the revolution, I provided free urgent medical attention to the wounded, both in my personal clinic and private hospitals. Once an operation finished, we used to transfer the patients to private apartments to protect them from the regime forces.
As the situation developed and Eastern Aleppo got out of the regime’s control, I kept working for free in my personal clinic and East Aleppo’s public hospital alongside Dr. Abdulsalam Al-daeef and Dr. Mahmoud Al-Hariri, who were both doing amazing work at the time. The regime used to mercilessly bomb civilian areas all the time. We did dozens of operations with little to no capacity. Resources and equipment were low - we had to use whatever we could find in the hospital to do the procedures as safely as possible.
I remember that in the first Ramadan of the revolution, I was the only surgeon doctor in the hospital and we received more than 40 injuries in one wave. We worked painfully hard, for too long. It almost felt like dying. One day, I was doing an open abdominal operation for a young man and during the operation, someone came to us terrified, saying. “Doctor, wrap up quickly! The regime forces will be in the hospital in an hour”. It was a very difficult situation. I turned to my surgical assistant and the anesthetic technician and said, “Will you continue this operation with me?” They said, “We’re with you no matter what”. We continued the operation and the young man survived. We had been lucky that time - that day, the regime forces fell back and were unable to enter Eastern Aleppo.
As the regime’s attack on civilians escalated, people were in even more need of medical attention. I founded the first clinic in eastern Aleppo along with a dentist, internal doctor and gynecologist to provide medical care for people, and later we added a team for vaccinating children. I used to frequently go to Al-Quds hospital, it was a small clinic at that time, but then it was expanded into a hospital by Dr. Hamzah and Dr. Abdulsalam Al-Daeef. It was then that I transferred there to open the surgery department and start working at Al-Quds hospital.
I still remember a man in his sixties who had been shot in the chest by a sniper from the regime’s forces. He was barely able to walk when he arrived at the hospital. That morning, the generator was broken and I did a chest operation for him without any light, except small lighters and flashes! Fortunately, the man was discharged to return home once he was doing better.
What made the people feel even more desperate, were all the tortured and killed detainees that the regime sent to us by the river. A lot of the people who had worked on pulling the bodies from the river came to me with nervous breakdowns.
I used to do normal routine surgeries in Al-Quds hospital but when the shelling got more intense and the regime used barrel bombs on civilians we had massacre after massacre. There was a river of blood belonging to children, women, and the elderly.
I always felt like the staff at Al-Quds hospital were like my children and my siblings - I was the one who fixed the disputes among staff members or between the staff and management.
When the hospitals in the countryside needed a surgeon, I was always there, because saving lives in Aleppo or anywhere else is both my professional and moral responsibility. We used to go to the countryside through a road named “Alcastelo,” which means, ‘The road of death’. I remember one day I went with Dr. Hamza and Waad to support one hospital with their surgeries. We went through that road in the middle of the night - bombs were landing everywhere around us, and we were unable to turn on the car’s lights fearing the regime’s warplanes. We reached our destination and once I completed the surgeries, we returned to Aleppo the next day.
Our staff did not only operate inside the hospital, they also used to respond to the areas that were hit and pull people from under the rubble. Al-Quds hospital was targeted more than once and we almost died on top of each other in the corners of the hospital. The hospital was targeted horrifically, the massacre of Al-Quds. Nurses, doctors, and staffers were martyred. One neighborhood was targeted heavily and after a few moments, a child named “Sahad” got to the hospital with a critical injury. We did an urgent operation and she survived, but she lost her mother and brother.
After the regime intensified its shelling on the area even more, I founded a hospital in a garage along the road in Aleppo’s southern countryside. I did some surgeries there, but after a couple of months the hospital was targeted, so we evacuated it.
Aleppo was then besieged, and I hadn’t seen my family for six months. I spoke to them through the internet, I sent pictures of chocolate to my younger son - I sent roses to my wife and children.
As she was on the road towards Al-Quds hospital to give birth, Maisaa, a woman in her 9th month of pregnancy, was hit by warplanes and injured in her abdomen, head, and limbs. I did an emergency operation to save her and her child, and the results were great. Not too long ago, a woman came to me at Al-Quds hospital in Idlib, with a five-year old child. It was Maisaa with her child. She was pregnant again and asking for advice that has nothing to do with the previous surgery, thank god.
After we’d been displaced from Aleppo, I went to support the surgery department in Aleppo’s western countryside hospital. We were hit by the Russian and regime warplanes and the whole hospital collapsed over us, there were three injuries and one martyr, and I only got some minor burns.
I helped the NGO Syria Relief and Development to create a hospital in a village in Idlib. Staff from Al-Quds hospital joined that hospital and started working until a separate place was provided for Al-Quds hospital to start again. After a few months, Al-Quds hospital was standing again in Al-Dana, Idlib and its staff transferred there.
My only concern was always to look after Al-Quds hospital’s patients, and to serve the staff, help them, defend them, and make things better for them.
The Guardian: Denmark could face legal action over attempts to return Syrian refugees
Activists fear a ‘dangerous precedent’ being set as Copenhagen uses a report that deems Damascus safe to deny residency status
Denmark’s attempt to return hundreds of Syrians to Damascus after deeming the city safe will “set a dangerous precedent” for other countries to do the same, say lawyers who are preparing to take the Danish government to the European court of human rights (ECHR) over the issue.
Authorities in Denmark began rejecting Syrian refugees’ applications for renewal of temporary residency status last summer, and justified the move because a report had found the security situation in some parts of the country had “improved significantly”. About 1,200 people from Damascus currently living in Denmark are believed to be affected by the policy.
Guernica 37, a London-based chambers which provides pro-bono and affordable assistance in transnational justice and human rights cases, is working with asylum lawyers and affected families in Denmark to mount a challenge to the government policy under the Geneva convention principle of “non-refoulement”. Neither the UN nor other countries deem Damascus as safe.
“If the Danish government’s efforts to forcibly return refugees to Syria is successful, it will set a dangerous precedent, which several other European states are likely to follow.”
Since Denmark does not have diplomatic relations with Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Syrian refugees whose residency renewals are denied face the prospect of being held indefinitely in detention centres.
And in a cruel quirk, because the Danish authorities recognise that Syrian men are at risk of being drafted into the military or punished for evading conscription, most of those affected appear to be women and older people, many of whom face being separated from their families.
Ghalia, a 27-year-old who was reunited with her parents and brothers when she arrived in Denmark in 2015, had her residency permit revoked in March. She is the only member of her family to be affected.
While Ghalia is appealing against the decision, the uncertainty and worry of being separated again have left her unable to sleep, she said.
“I feel nothing but fear about going into the immigration centre by myself, but I can’t return to Syria … it is like they believe we have a choice but if I go back, I will be arrested. You can’t do anything in the immigration centres, you can’t work, you can’t study. It’s like a prison. I’ll just waste my life away in there.”
Carl Buckley, the barrister leading Guernica 37’s efforts, said taking a case to the ECHR in Strasbourg is one of several potential avenues affected Syrians could turn to if they exhaust the appeals procedure in Denmark.
He said: “The ECHR is a slow-moving system, but we would make an application asking the court to consider interim measures, which would involve ordering Denmark to stop revoking residencies until a substantive complaint has been considered and ruled upon.
“In theory that could happen pretty quickly. And while it would only apply to one individual’s case, we would hope that Denmark would consider it carefully or they will end up with thousands of similar applications.”
Guernica 37 and a consortium of 150 Danish law firms working on asylum cases are hopeful it will not be necessary to take the Danish government to the courts.
Faeza, 25, a nurse working in the northern town of Hillerrød, was treating Covid patients when Denmark’s immigration services invited her for an interview in August last year. “I was interviewed for eight hours. I was asked over and over, why hadn’t I returned to Syria? I said because it wasn’t safe.”
Her permit was revoked in January of this year and she spent many stressful months appealing against the decision: like Ghalia, Faeza was the only person in her family who’d had their permit revoked. While the ruling was overturned in July, she remains terrified of being questioned again and the prospect of returning to Syria alone. “I am happy at the decision,” she said, “but I am now worried [in case it happens again]. As Syrian refugees, we are subject to unjust decisions.”
Syrian refugees react to the decision to repatriate with a sit-in at Denmark’s parliament building in Copenhagen, 21 May 2021. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
In 2018, hundreds of Somalis in Denmark had their permits revoked under a similar scheme. Some won their appeal to stay but, according to the Danish Refugee Council, many left Denmark and have disappeared, possibly to live without status in another country.
For Ghalia, whose appeal court appointment has been delayed because her lawyer was sick, the waiting is agony.
“I’m right back to that point when I first arrived in Denmark and feel helpless all the time,” she said.
“I have no control over my life and I feel like I haven’t done anything to deserve this.”
The new Arab: Besieged and starved: How 'the wheel of life' has stopped in Syria's Daraa
As the people of Daraa al-Balad area remain at loggerheads with the Syrian regime and Russian forces, the residents are being starved of food and medicine while also deprived of education and other basic amenities over their refusal to participate in Assad’s “farce” elections.
Since May, Daraa has been under siege by the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Daraa al-Balad consists of several neighbourhoods, Palestinian refugee camps as well as camps for those displaced in the occupied Syrian Golan. There are also agricultural farms within the two to the three-kilometre area, but many have moved their operations, fearing bombardment by regime forces.
No access to medicine or care
Blocked off from medical attention, the elderly and children faint from the heat, as access to treatment for serious illnesses is barred.
“A woman passed away while she was giving birth because she was prevented from entering the hospital,” local businessman and family man Mohamed Zatima tells The New Arab.
He says that the Russians even go as far as to block off veterinary supplies to the area. “A siege by the Russians and the regime on Daraa al-Balad is not limited to humans, but even to animals,” he comments.
Coronavirus is also a cause for alarm, as cases are rising and victims of the deadly disease cannot enter the hospital in the city centre.
Local father-of-six Abu Abdullah, 55, who is now out of work due to poor health, describes life in besieged Daraa as tragic and difficult under a “suffocating blockade”.
Having undergone an open-heart surgery eight months ago, he needs access to hard-to-get medicine, which is now impossible. “There is medicine I will have to cut out due to the lack of it, no presence of doctors, and my inability to buy it on the black market,” he says.
He continues: “There is no water, no electricity, no way to go to hospitals and doctors in the regime’s area from medical laboratories, radiology or service centres.”
"A woman passed away while she was giving birth because she was prevented from entering the hospital"
The Syrian regime and Russian planes fly low over the neighbourhoods, frightening children, causing great anxiety, and making it impossible for them to continue their education.
“I have four children who were prevented from entering schools and practising their hobbies," says Mohamed Zatima. "Due to the Russian jets which fly over the neighbourhoods at a low level, the children suffer from anxiety which has affected their behaviour.”
Abu Abdullah says his daughters are unable to complete their education, due to the fact they are blocked off from schools in regime territory, and his other children are unable to work. “My children are deprived of their human rights, they have neither work nor study,” he says.
"My children are deprived of their human rights, they have neither work nor study"
Protests continue
Despite the besiegement, local activists continue to protest against the regime’s blockade, and the presidential elections, known as “the farce”. Untrusting the Russians, the local governing bodies have rejected the most recent deal put forward.
Local activist Loranc Alakrad explains, “Russia asked us to hand over light weapons, 200 Kalashnikov rifles and 20 machine guns, but the response of the civil committee was that we do not have these weapons, and it cannot be delivered – this request was completely rejected.”
Local protests demand the release of detainees, and the implementation of certain clauses in the July 2018 agreement that have not yet materialised, including the removal of militias and the return of the army – which has taken up residents in civilian homes and shops – to its barracks, the return of students to their schools and universities, and employees to their jobs.
رغم الحصار الخانق
— لورنس أبو آدم (@lornce_adm) July 3, 2021
رغم التهديدات الروسية
رغم تآمر الجميع
على مهد الثورة #درعا_البلد
يخرح الأهالي ويصدحون بأعلى صوتهم سوف نبقى
تحدي وصمود
صبر وتحمل
لتبقى مهد الثورة القلعة الصامدة
بثلة من شبابها الصابرين الثابتين#فكوا_الحصار_عن_درعا_البلد#تضامن_مع_مهد_الثورة#الحرية_لدرعا pic.twitter.com/AtjvDrV1Rt
What next?
As the siege continues on the city, the residents can only speculate what will happen next. Will the regime launch a brutal offensive? Or will it simply continue its siege until the locals are starved out?
“The regime and the Russians are still besieging the neighbourhoods of Daraa al-Balad, and in light of the arrival of new reinforcements, this suggests the possibility of a storming and massacre against us,” Mohamed Zatima explains.
He fears an offensive against the people of Daraa, however, others don’t.
“We are almost dead and there is no deterrent to him after the world abandoned us and his possession to all kinds of power and with the support of regional and global powers,” Abu Abdullah says. “This is a method of starvation and siege… and punishing a people for just an opinion.”
Mohamed Zatima says if Assad stood in front of him, he would call him a child killer and a war criminal.
He dreams of a better Syria, and rather than migrate to Europe, he has hope that Syria can achieve democracy: “I do not want to emigrate, but I want my country to become like the countries of Europe in terms of respect for human beings and appreciation of humanity. Syria is our country and the country of our ancestors.”
Abu Abdullah on the other hand would want to migrate, striving for a decent future for his children. He would tell Assad to leave them in peace: “Leave and let us heal our wounds, for we have been exhausted by the war.”
The Authors:
Amy Addison-Dunne is a freelance digital journalist with an interest in the Middle East and British politics. She has written for the Daily Mirror, Morning Star.
Marwa Koçak is a journalist and translator with an interest in politics and human rights in the Middle East. She speaks Arabic, English and Turkish. She has written for Middle East Eye, Al-Jazeera.