Aleppo Council likens bombings to the Blitz and calls for closer ties with London
Syrians in Aleppo have today issued a message of congratulations to Sadiq Khan for his election as London Mayor.
The Aleppo Council, which helps govern Syria’s largest city, welcomed Khan’s election and paid tribute to the support Aleppo has received from Londoners, calling for closer ties in the future.
The message also invites Londoners to recall the spirit of the Blitz during World War II, drawing a parallel with the bombing of Aleppo by the Assad regime.
Here is the message in full:
Mr Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London
Dear Mr Khan,
We extend our warm congratulations to you on your election as Mayor of London.
The people of Aleppo value the support of friends in London; friends such as the London Fire Brigade who have sent equipment to help the rescue volunteers of Syria Civil Defence; friends such as the British doctors, health workers, and aid workers, who recently marched in London in solidarity with medical workers in Syria.
London’s Great Fire is over but Aleppo is still burning. The world knows of the brave spirit that carried London through the Blitz of 1940 and 1941, a terror that killed 40,000 civilians across Britain. After five years, we are still living through air attacks in Aleppo.
Tragically, many times more civilians have been killed in Syria than were killed in the Blitz. The Syrian Network of Human Rights documented 186,689 individual civilians killed by the Assad regime and its allies up to the end of April.
The 27 April bombing of the Al Quds hospital in Aleppo killed as many civilians and medical workers, killing the last paediatrician in the city.
We hope that as Mayor of London you will be a friend to Aleppo, to stand in solidarity with the city Aleppo that is still burning. The people of Aleppo and London have much to offer each other in a common struggle for peace and freedom.
With kind regards,
President of the local Council of Aleppo
Syria Solidarity UK, which shared the message, added:
‘Syria Solidarity UK is very pleased to see Aleppo Council reach out to London’s new mayor.
We call on London to help Aleppo where it can: to help Aleppo’s hospitals, bombed by Assad and his allies, to help Aleppo’s schools, forced into basements by barrel bombs.
We call on the new Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to show solidarity: twin London with Aleppo!’
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One Response to “Syrians in Aleppo welcome Sadiq Khan’s election as London Mayor”
Clara Connolly
yes, like the Blitz except that free Aleppo is being bombed by its own government, and there is nowhere to evacuate the children.