Is there light at the end of the tunnel for Aleppo's dying children and shattered health system?

[Sally]

You have to fell for these doctors who are working under the most horrendous conditions.


Is there light at the end of the tunnel for Aleppo's dying children and shattered health system?
The Conversation
By University of Illinois associate clinical professor Zaher Sahloul

Posted yesterday at 7:15pm

PHOTO: Syria's largest city Aleppo has 85,000 children, including about 20,000 below the age of two. (EPA/AAP/JM Lopez)
MAP: Syrian Arab Republic
Being a doctor can be risky business, some times more than others.

During my dozen medical missions to Syria, I had to crawl under a border fence, jump over walls, walk in the mountains at night for hours without any light, pass through the sniper alley in Aleppo, negotiate with smugglers and work in bombed, underground hospitals.

The Syrian crisis is now in its fifth year. The country's health services are under unprecedented strain due to the protracted war, deliberate targeting of health staff and infrastructure by the Syrian regime and Russian forces, the exodus of physicians and nurses, shortages of medical supplies and medications and the disruption of medical education and training.

Syria's largest city, Aleppo, has 85,000 children, including around 20,000 below the age of two. Dozens are injured every week, just like five-year-old Omran Daqneesh whose pictures have shocked the world. Many have far worse injuries and will not survive.

I took care of some of these unlucky children, such as Ahmad Hijazi, also five years old. He was hit by one of Assad's barrel bombs. These are containers the size of barrels, stuffed with TNT and metal shrapnel, which the Syrian regime throws from helicopters onto urban areas such as hospitals, civilian neighbourhoods, fruit markets and schools.

Continue reading at:

The dangers of being a doctor in a Syrian warzone?

 

[tinydancer]

Sally stop. We know you work for the MB. Stop.

 

[Sally]

Sally stop. We know you work for the MB. Stop.

I have no idea what crazy thing you are accusing me of. It appears that you don't mind post after post by Baghdad Bob Jr. of all the different fighting going on since you have said nothing, but talking about the doctors and their unfortunate victims seems to bother you. JUST WHOM ARE YOU WORKING FOR?

 

[waltky]

What war looks like after the fighting...

UN releases satellite images of damage in Syria's Aleppo
October 5, 2016 — The U.N. on Wednesday released stark satellite images showing the most recent destruction of Syria's embattled northern city of Aleppo, pounded by Syrian and Russian airstrikes since the collapse of a U.S.-Russia brokered cease-fire two weeks ago.

The release coincides with a stepped-up offensive by Syrian pro-government forces that are attacking the city from the south in a bid to penetrate its opposition-controlled areas, where the U.N. estimates 275,000 people are trapped in a government siege. In Geneva, an official with the U.N.'s satellite imagery program said the new pictures from the rebel-held areas in the eastern half of the city show much destruction, presumably caused by airstrikes. "Since the cease-fire has broken down, you certainly see an awful lot of new damage or plenty of new damage," said Lars Bromley, a research adviser at UNOSAT. The images, from Digital Globe and obtained by the U.N. agency through a licensing arrangement with the U.S. State Department, show mostly "formerly blasted and blown-up areas" during Syria's 5-1/2-year war "experiencing a great deal of additional damage," said Bromley. "To a certain extent you're looking at rubble being pushed around," he told reporters.

Damaged buildings inside the Bustan Al-Basha neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria​

The images primarily show before-and-after pictures from mid to late September showing destruction of buildings, including houses, after the short-lived cease-fire broke down. Several images are from northern Aleppo neighborhoods, where government forces have also advanced against rebel fighters battling back. "Since the cease-fire has broken down, you certainly see an awful lot of new damage or plenty of new damage," Bromley added. "Remember that the areas that are being bombed have been bombed almost continuously for quite some time. So seeing dramatic images of formerly pristine areas now turned to rubble — you don't see a lot of that." One image, dated Saturday, shows the damage to a school or athletic facility in Aleppo's Owaija district. Some of the images had a "signature" that airstrikes had done the damage — a large-size crater. "Air-dropped munitions are often much larger than anything you would fire on the ground, so a giant crater in the ground is almost certainly an air-dropped munition," Bromley explained. "Then things like rockets, they will often occur in a row, whereas artillery or mortars will kind of have a different pattern." "But there is also a lot of overlap, there is a lot of smaller airdropped bombs that will look almost the same as a mortar or an artillery piece," he added.

View of a burned prison belonging to Islamic State militants is seen in Falluja after government forces recaptured the city from Islamic State militants, Iraq​

UNOSAT manager Einar Bjorgo added that places like Aleppo, which has long been the focus of Syria's bitter civil war, now in its sixth year, "are of course complex to analyze because you have a mix of all this." The images could also provide significant insight after a controversial attack — such as a deadly attack on a U.N.-backed humanitarian aid convoy west of Aleppo last month. "With our analysis, we determined that it was an airstrike," Bromley said. Convoy organizers had obtained necessary clearances from the government, rebels as well as the Americans and Russians, who operated aircraft in Syrian skies. The top U.S. military officer, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate committee last week that he believes Russia bombed the convoy and said Syrian and Russian aircraft were in the area at the time. Russia and Syria have denied that they were responsible for the strike.

Damaged mosque is seen in Falluja, Iraq, after government forces recaptured the city from Islamic State militants​

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