Syrian doctors beg US lawmakers to save millions from humanitarian crisis

Doctors describe streets strewn with body parts and still fear for the relatives left in Syria.

Dr. Farida, an obstetrician from Aleppo, testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations hearing on the conflict in Syria on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.on March 15, 2017. Aaron P. Bernstein / ReuteShow more

WASHINGTON (// Doctors who risked their lives working in Syrian hospitals described horrific conditions in the war-torn country and pleaded with US politicians to protect and save millions of people from an escalating humanitarian crisis.

Testifying before the senate foreign relations committee, a doctor identified only as Farida told the committee she was an obstetrician in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, where there were body parts scattered in the streets and “blood everywhere.” For security reasons, she used only a single name and wore a medical mask covering her mouth and nose. She left Aleppo in December.

“Throughout the past six years, I have witnessed unspeakable horrors,” Farida said. Her unit in the hospital, known as M2, was subjected to a “daily barrage” of rockets, barrel bombs and cluster munitions. “A hospital was the most dangerous place in Aleppo,” she said.

An ophthalmologist identified only as Abdulkhalek, who also wore a surgical mask, said they feared reprisals from the Syrian government and also worried their relatives might be punished if they were identified.

Abdulkhalek was director of the M3 hospital in Aleppo when the facility was attacked in December with chlorine bombs. They survived by locking themselves in an inner room and covering their faces. But many others died, he said.

“These chlorine attacks occurred after repeated attempts by the (Syrian) regime and its allies to destroy the hospital using barrel bombs and cluster munitions had failed,” Abdulkhalek said. “Instead, they resorted to chemical attacks to drive us out.”

American legislators have accused the government of Bashar Al Assad of war crimes and even genocide as the number of people killed during the violence in Syria continues to mount. Russia, with its massive air power, and Iran, with thousands of Shiite militiamen in Syria, helped turn the war indisputably in Mr Assad’s favour.

Russia’s tactics in Syria also contributed to the frosty relations between Washington and Moscow that President Donald Trump has said he wants to repair. Despite Russia’s pronouncements, it has done little to counter ISIL but instead has bolstered the Assad regime.

Retired air force general. Philip Breedlove said during congressional testimony last year that Russia and Mr Assad were using migration as a weapon to overwhelm European support structures and break the West’s resolve. Gen Breedlove, who was the head of US European Command at the time said the only purpose of using barrel bombs — which are unguided weapons and have no military value —, as to terrorise Syrian citizens and “get them on the road” and make them problems for other countries.

* Associated Press