“The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is alarmed by the desperate conditions facing civilians in eastern Aleppo, Syria, who are denied access to food and life-saving humanitarian assistance and face constant bombing and other indiscriminate attacks.” A statement by the U.S Holocaust Memorial Museum said in Thursday.
Unless the international community takes immediate steps to protect civilians from mass atrocities and ensures their access to outside humanitarian assistance, eastern Aleppo and its remaining residents could face annihilation in the coming weeks and months.
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“The world is facing another Srebrenica moment, ” said Cameron Hudson, Director of the Museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, “There can be no greater priority right now than guaranteeing humanitarian access, protecting civilian populations and preventing a massive, imminent loss of life.”
The Museum today has unveiled a new film in its Wexner Center and online entitled, “#SaveSyria, ” which documents some of the recent atrocities faced by civilians in Aleppo and tells the stories of Syrian-American doctors seeking to assist.
“The actions of the Assad government have already claimed the lives of more than 400, 000 civilians and displaced half the country. The death toll could nearly double if the more than 300, 000 residents of eastern Aleppo, including its 120, 000 children, are not protected from continued bombardment and gain secure access to water, food, medicine and other aid.
President Bashar al-Assad and his government are committing crimes against humanity and war crimes against civilians, including acts of mass killing, torture and targeted attacks on medical facilities and health care providers. The denial of humanitarian assistance and the regime’s intentional starvation of this population through a siege are war crimes. The government has used these same tactics over the past five years in eastern Homs, Idlib and numerous other towns and cities, leading to large-scale loss of life.
A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, prevent genocide and promote human dignity. Its far-reaching educational programs and global impact are made possible by generous donors. Learn more at ushmm.org.”
Four people were reported dead and nearly 60 injured – including 40 children – when the regime dropped two barrel bombs allegedly filled with chlorine on what it claimed were rebel-held neighborhoods in Aleppo on Wednesday.
15 of Aleppo’s doctors issue a public plea to President Barack Obama: “Unless a permanent lifeline to Aleppo is opened it will be only a matter of time until we are again surrounded by regime troops, hunger takes hold and hospitals’ supplies run completely dry, ” they wrote. “We do not need tears or sympathy or even prayers, we need your action. Prove that you are the friend of Syrians.”
A BBC reporter posted a video of a doctor trying to save a newborn baby who had inhaled the gas.
GRAPHIC Ten o’clock news report “A baby’s first breath can be his last” #Chlorine #Aleppo civilians pic.twitter.com/AAj60aAL23 — Quentin Sommerville (@sommervillebbc) August 12, 2016
Iranian media reported earlier this week. Harakat al Nujaba, an Iraqi Shiite militia backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has released a video showing its forces in the area.
A large contingent of Hezbollah commandos reportedly arrived in Aleppo earlier this week to assist in the siege. A number of them are said to have participated in the successful Qalamoun/Zabadani offensive last year. Since then, the Syrian army and its allies have maintained a siege of Zabadani, where residents are starving, TheTower reported.
