{"id":207629,"date":"2022-03-28T12:01:02","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T11:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=207629"},"modified":"2024-09-23T14:38:50","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T13:38:50","slug":"war-on-syria-eleven-years-of-carnage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/03\/war-on-syria-eleven-years-of-carnage\/","title":{"rendered":"War on Syria: Eleven Years of Carnage"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cToday the poverty rate in Syria is an unprecedented 90 percent; 14.6 million people in Syria depend on humanitarian aid.\u201d Credit: Zak Brophy\/IPS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

22 Mar 2022 <\/span><\/em>\u2013 \u201cHundreds of thousands have been killed, more than half of the pre-war population \u2013 somewhere in the order of 22 million \u2013 have been displaced. More than 100,000 are missing or forcibly disappeared\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSyria\u2019s cities and infrastructure have been destroyed. Today the poverty rate in Syria is an unprecedented 90 percent; 14.6 million people in Syria depend on humanitarian aid.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This is how one of the top UN-appointed human rights investigators on 9 March 2022 described the Syrian unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.<\/p>\n

Presenting the latest UN Human Rights Council<\/a>-mandated report<\/a> on the 11-year-old conflict, Paulo Pinheiro, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, talked about the \u201cdevastating\u201d impact on communities.<\/p>\n

In Syria\u2019s northwest, many Syrians forced from their homes \u201care still living in flimsy tents, stuck in snow, rain, mud,\u201d Pinheiro added.<\/p>\n

In the abyss<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

\u201cMake no mistake that violence against civilians continues across the country, from bombardment in the northwest, north and northeast, to targeted killings, unlawful detention and torture\u2026These are the abysses faced by the Syrian people.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the report, covering the period July to December 2021, there were increased bombardments in the northwest of the country and skirmishes between the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) and the Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast.<\/p>\n

The Commission documented \u201cgrave violations of fundamental human rights and international humanitarian law by parties to the conflict, including war crimes and ongoing patterns of crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Idlib and western Aleppo in the northwest, residential areas were also shelled indiscriminately from the ground by pro-government forces.\u201d<\/p>\n

140 percent inflation<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Previous reports by the Commission of Inquiry have warned about a worsening humanitarian situation across Syria because of fighting and insecurity, but Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February has heightened concerns that critical wheat imports may now be affected, said<\/a> Commissioner Hanny Megally: \u201cWe\u2019re already seeing inflation at 140 per cent at the beginning of this year (and) it\u2019s gone up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing the State already beginning to ration. We\u2019re seeing the prices of commodities, basic commodities and fuel going up\u2026Most of Syria\u2019s imported wheat is coming from Ukraine or Russia, so we are very concerned that the war in Ukraine will have a bad impact on Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teetering on collapse<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

With Syria \u201cteetering on collapse\u201d, the Commissioner urged<\/a> a review of sanctions imposed on Syria on a country-by-country basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cSanctions \u2026should facilitate humanitarian assistance (but) this is not really working very well,\u201d said Megally, who warned that many countries were so fearful of breaching the embargoes that they were practising \u201covercompliance\u201d, leaving Syrian communities short of essential commodities.<\/p>\n

War in Syria, a carnage<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Last year, marking its tenth year, the UN secretary general, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, classified the war in Syria as a \u201ccarnage.\u201d This year, Guterres said that Syria\u2019s 11 years of brutal fighting has come at an \u201cunconscionable human cost\u201d, subjecting millions there to human rights violations on a \u201cmassive and systematic scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe destruction that Syrians have endured is so extensive and deadly that it has few equals in modern history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Healthcare under attack<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

The World Health Organization (WHO<\/a>) reported<\/a> that only half of the 550 health facilities in the region remain open nearly a decade after the war began.<\/p>\n

\u201cSyria represents one of the worst cases of healthcare being affected by conflict, according to the agency, with a total of 494 attacks recorded between 2016-2019, mainly in the northwest.\u201d<\/p>\n

During that same period, 470 people were killed in attacks on health facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is troubling is that we\u2018ve come to a point where attacks on health \u2013 something the international community shouldn\u2018t tolerate \u2013 are now taken for granted; something we have become accustomed to. \u201d, said Richard Brennan, WHO Regional Emergency Director in the Eastern Mediterranean. \u201cAnd they are still taking place\u201d.<\/p>\n

12 million Syrians into food insecurity<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

As the Syrian war has driven poverty and hunger to levels higher than at any previous point, UN Special\u202fEnvoy Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on 25 February 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 10 years of crisis, life is harder than ever for displaced Syrians. Millions of Syrians have been forced to flee their homes since 2011, seeking safety as refugees in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and beyond, or displaced inside Syria. As the crisis continues, hope is fading. With the devastating impact of the pandemic and increasing poverty, every day is an emergency for Syrians forced to flee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Largest refugee crisis in decades<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

According<\/a> to the UN Refugee agency (UNHCR<\/a>) already last year millions of Syrians have escaped across borders, in what has become \u201cthe world\u2019s largest refugee crisis in decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turkey hosts the largest number of registered<\/a> Syrian refugees \u2013 more than 3.6 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vast majority of Syrian refugees in the neighbouring countries live in urban areas, with only 1 out of 20 accommodated in a refugee camp. In all neighbouring countries, life is a daily struggle for more than a million Syrian refugees, who have little or no financial resources.\u201d UNHCR added<\/a> the following:<\/p>\n