By Ron Leir
Well, here we are in the midst of a sticky, steamy summer with no relief in sight — and if we manage to get through with the protection of A/C, the weather experts tell us we may be facing a brutal hurricane season this fall.
Meanwhile, even if you escape to the Jersey Shore — assuming you beat the traffic — you may be encountering your favorite beaches closed to the presence of bacteria in the water.
Still, before you sign up for a pity party, you may want to consider the plight of the people in Aleppo, Syria, who are in a real sticky situation these days.
Although the situation could change by press time, as of last Friday, all major media sources were saying that as many as 2 million people in Aleppo were, essentially, cornered with no outlet to seek refuge.
As cbsnews.com put it, they were “in danger of running out of food, fuel, medical supplies and water in a city that has been under siege for weeks now amid incessant fighting.”
And, as reported by theguardian.com, the few physicians remaining have issued a desperate plea to the U.S. to try and put an immediate halt to the indiscriminate shelling of hospitals in the city.
“We do not need tears or sympathy or even prayers: we desperately need a zone free from bombing over eastern Aleppo to stop the attacks, and international action to ensure Aleppo is never besieged again,” doctors wrote in a letter to President Obama.
Their cry for help came after Russia – which is backing the Syrian government forces – had pledged not to send its fighter jets over the city for three hours a day – a move that was to have started last Thursday – to allow for deliveries of emergency humanitarian aid.
The situation reached crisis proportions when rebels in the eastern part of Aleppo – where 250,000 civilians are under siege – recently launched an offensive that cut the government-held supply route into the city, thereby putting the western part of Aleppo at risk as well.
Here is how the Syrian doctors describe what they are living through daily:
“For five years, we have faced death from above on a daily basis. But we now face death from all around. For five years, we have borne witness as countless patients, friends and colleagues suffered violent, tormented deaths. For five years, the world has stood by and remarked how ‘complicated’ Syria is, while doing little to protect us. …
“Last month, there were 42 attacks on medical facilities in Syria, 15 of which were hospitals in which we work. Right now, there is an attack on a medical facility every 17 hours. At this rate, our medical services in Aleppo could be completely destroyed in a month, leaving 300,000 people to die.
“What pains us most, as doctors, is choosing who will live and who will die. Young children are sometimes brought into our emergency rooms so badly injured that we have to prioritize those with better chances, or simply don’t have the equipment to help them. Two weeks ago, four newborn babies gasping for air suffocated to death after a blast cut the oxygen supply to their incubators. Grasping for air, their lives ended before they had really begun.”
The letter doesn’t mention that, according to news reports at the time of that bombing, that the pediatrics unit was – for no known reason – locked at the time and that no one reportedly could find a key to open it as fires raged inside.
At any rate, the doctors’ letter labels the ongoing attacks on hospitals as a “war crime.”
But if the Syrian government and Russia are to be held responsible, then so, too, are the nations of the world for doing nothing to stop the atrocities.
We have heard the usual complaints raised by and through United Nations members and representatives, and by the Vatican and other religious leaders, but actions speak louder than words.
Aleppo – like many other sad cases of human suffering around the globe – remains a blot on the conscience of the world. Humanity is the guilty party here.
