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A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 8 June 2019
Syria uses familiar tactic in rebel Idlib: Bombing civilians

By SARAH EL DEEB and has not been able to
BEIRUT (AP) — The father reopen since.
could hardly bear seeing In general, the government
his 18-month-old daughter's has a blanket justification
panic every time the Syr- for indiscriminate bombing
ian government warplanes of rebel-held areas, de-
flew over their home. Every scribing the entire popula-
day for a month, she ran to tion as "terrorists and their
him to hide in his arms, tear- families." It further backs its
ful and breathless. pretext by pointing to the
Abdurrahim had refused to fact that al-Qaida linked
flee his hometown through- militants and other jihadi
out years of violence, and groups have come to dom-
he was determined to hold inate the Idlib enclave,
out through the new, inten- which first fell under rebel
sified government offensive control in 2015.
launched in April against Najat Rochdi, senior hu-
Idlib province, the last sig- manitarian adviser to the
nificant territory held by United Nations Special
Syria's rebels. Envoy for Syria, said in a
But now he had his first statement Friday that com-
child, Ruwaida, to think batting terrorism "does not
about. absolve" any party and
"That look on my daugh- warned that the attacks
ter's face ... is really what against civilians and civilian
is going to kill me," said In this May 3, 2019 file photo, provided by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, which has been infrastructure may amount
authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows smoke rising after Syrian gov-
the 25-year-old Abdurra- ernment and Russian airstrikes that hit the town of al-Habeet, southern Idlib, Syria. to war crimes.
him, who asked that his last Associated Press "We have a collective re-
name not be published for sponsibility to the victims
security reasons. "Even wars have rules," said could spiral to 700,000 dis- The south Idlib region most of this conflict, many of
His determination col- Misty Buswell, the Middle placed. directly under attack does whom are too young to try
lapsed when an airstrike East advocacy director for More than 300 civilians not have a single health fa- to make sense of this sense-
on May 30 pulverized the the International Rescue have been killed, accord- cility left, after all 16 there less war," she said.
house next door, crushing Committee, adding that ing to opposition activists were hit by airstrikes or Physicians for Human Rights
to death three children, two hospitals it supports and war monitors. At least stopped working, al-Eido has said the war in Syria has
one of them a girl Ru- were hit by airstrikes. In this 61 children are among said. That has put an extra seen the most widespread
waida's age. He whisked war, she said, attacks on those killed since April, ac- burden on those in other and systematic assault on
his daughter and wife to civilians "have happened cording to Save the Chil- parts of Idlib and forced health care documented
a nearby village, hoping it with absolute impunity." dren, though Idlib health long journeys on patients, in the world to date. It has
would be safe. The impact has been brutal authorities put the figure said Mohamad Katoub of counted at least 566 at-
The Syrian government and in the rebel enclave cen- at 75 children killed in May the Syrian-American Medi- tacks on health facilities
its Russian backer have tered on Idlib in northwest alone. cal Society, which supports since the start of the war,
turned to a familiar tac- Syria on the border with Diana Samaan, a Syria services in the area. mostly by government forc-
tic in their assault on Idlib Turkey. Some 3 million peo- researcher with Amnesty Bombings are so frequent es or their allies.
— relentlessly and system- ple are bottled up there, International, said homes that many hospitals are The strike on the house of
atically striking residential more than half of them dis- are targeted as a "tac- built buried into the sides of Abdurrahim's neighbors,
areas, hospitals, markets, placed from other parts of tic to pressure civilians to hills for protection, known the Qasheet family, was
crops and infrastructure to the country recaptured by succumb." Sara Kayyali, a as "cave hospitals." part of a major barrage
break the will of the popu- the military. Syria researcher with Hu- One such cave hospital, that rained down on resi-
lation and pressure people The Syrian military launched man Rights Watch, said a major trauma facility in dential areas on the town
to flee, according to ob- its assault in April, backed her group and others have southern Idlib, called Pulse of Maarat al-Numan, de-
servers, rights groups and by government and Rus- "documented enough of Life, was hit by airstrikes stroying six houses in a sin-
residents. sian airstrikes. It has focused strikes on residential build- three times in the past two gle day.
It's a tried-and-true method on the enclave's southern ings to at least indicate an years, each time moving Dust was still in the air when
that worked for President edges, taking a few villag- appearance of unlawful to a new location. Every the team of first responders
Bashar Assad's forces in es and bombarding deep- approach." month, it served 5,000 pa- known as the White Helmets
their previous, destructive er into Idlib. Hospitals and clinics have tients and performed 500 arrived, said Obada Zakra,
campaigns that retook the Bombing "targets every- been systematically bom- operations. a leader of the team. They
city of Aleppo in 2016 and thing: bakeries, hospitals, barded, some of them The fourth and final strike first focused on survivors in a
other strategic territories. markets. The aim is to stop hit more than once even came May 5 when at least nearby house while neigh-
Striking civilians with impu- all services to civilians. Ev- though the U.N. identifies seven rockets pounded the bors worked to dig out the
nity has been so character- erything," said Wasel Aljirk, many to the Syrian govern- hospital. Direct hits raised Qasheets' two-story home.
istic of the 8-year civil war a surgeon whose hospital ment as health centers. massive clouds of earth, The father, mother and one
that it rarely even raises was blasted by strikes. At least 32 hospitals and gravel, stone and concrete son emerged alive though
much international outrage Five weeks of violence has health facilities around the dust into the sky, seen in a gap in the debris. Anoth-
or attention. Monitors say driven nearly 300,000 peo- enclave have been put out video posted online. er son was pulled out hours
the pattern of strikes clearly ple from their homes. Many of service, either because No one was hurt because later, bloodied but alive.
show that, far from being are living under olive trees, they were struck or sus- the staff had evacuated But the building was pan-
collateral damage, civilian in tents or unfinished build- pended their operations for after being tipped of an caked on top of 14-year
homes, businesses and in- ings, cramming in over- fear of being hit, Mustafa imminent strike, said Aljirk, old Abboudi Qasheet, his
frastructure are intentional crowded shared rooms. al-Eido from the Idlib health the surgeon. But Pulse of two sisters, and younger
targets of the government. Aid groups fear that figure authority said Thursday. Life was virtually destroyed brother.q