Assad and Hezbollah are deliberately starving civilians. If we can drop bombs, why not food?
Syrian activists in the UK are calling for the Royal Air Force to drop food on the besieged town of Madaya, where up to 40,000 people are being deliberately starved to death by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Seven groups released a statement last night saying 31 people have already starved or been killed trying to escape in the past month.
Photographs on social media show skeleton-like men looking like inmates in Nazi concentration camps, along with shrunken and malnurished children.
Starvation has been used as a war weapon by Assad before, in his prisons and on Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk.
The Syrian groups, which include Syria Solidarity UK and Rethink Rebuild, say the actions of Assad and his allies in Hezbollah violate United Nations resolutions, and demand action to save the people of Madaya.
They add that if the UK can drop bombs on Syria they can drop food to save lives.
They write:
“Besieging civilians breaks international humanitarian law, and breaks UN Security Council Resolutions 2139, 2165, 2191, 2254, and 2258.
Weeks after the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2254 to bring peace to Syria, it looks like yet another empty promise.
As a member of the International Syria Support Group, and as a permanent member of the security council, the United Kingdom has a particular responsibility to see that humanitarian assistance reaches ‘all people in need, in particular in all besieged and hard-to-reach areas’ in accordance with Resolution 2254.
The UK has shown it can drop bombs in Syria: they are no help to the starving. Now it is time to show what good the UK and its armed forces can do for people inside Syria. Protect civilians: Begin RAF food aid drops to Madaya now.“
Anyone who wants to can contact their MP here.
Want to keep up-to-date with stories like this? Sign up for Look Left.
8 Responses to “Syrians call for RAF food drops on Madaya, where people are starving to death”
CGR
But Hezbollah are ‘friends’ of Jeremy Corbyn.
septicisle
No mention of Kafraya and Fua, the towns besieged by the rebels, and part of the reason as to why Madaya and Zabadani have been subject to the same treatment.
To quote from an activist in the Independent:
“I can’t stress enough that the people of Madaya do not want that
equation of Kafrraya and Fua versus Madaya he said. “Just leave us
alone.”
I agree with him, but partisan groups like Syria Solidarity UK should make clear it is not only Madaya being subject to this treatment, and it is not only the regime or Hizbullah using these tactics.
AlexisWolf
Was this article written by the US state Dept?