SYRIA - Those Unable to Flee Civil War

"Millions of Syrians Are Uprooted But Unable to Flee Worn-torn Country" PBS Newshour 4/5/2013

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour):  There was a stark warning today from the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, about the humanitarian crisis caused in Syria and the ability of the international community to help.

A UNICEF spokesperson said, "The needs are rising exponentially, and we are broke."

New figures show the number of Syrian refugees in Jordan alone would more than double to 1.2 million by the end of this year.  But they may be the lucky ones. Millions more Syrians remain in their country.

And that's where Hari Sreenivasan picks up the story.

HARI SREENIVASAN (Newshour):  Bab al-Hawa means "gate of the Winds" in Arabic.  In Northern Syria, at the border crossing of the same name, it is also the gate into Turkey and escape from the slaughter of civil war.

But for many Syrians, there is no way out.  And here at Bab al-Hawa, in Idlib province, thousands live in a squalid makeshift camp within sight of the border and refuge.

Video journalist Ted Nieters traveled to Syria for the NewsHour and found 7,000 people huddled by the frontier.  Syrian air force fighter jets flew over the camp, and sent its shell-shocked residents scurrying.

Significant excerpts

ELIZABETH O'BAGY, Senior Research Analyst, Institute for the Study of War:  One of the regime strategies has been kind of the inverse of normal insurgency campaigns that we think of, to the point where what they're trying to do is purposefully displace populations from town centers and from city centers, so that when the rebels take control, they're taking control of empty cities and empty villages.



CAROLYN MILES:  We are delivering, again, food and water inside of Syria with partners.  And when they're caught delivering food, oftentimes, they're tortured.

I think the biggest challenge is that the work that we're doing is targeted, so particularly the health system and the health facilities are being targeted.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Are there hospitals left that people can go to?

CAROLYN MILES:  There are.  There are still hospitals that are open.  People still need health services, and so they're trying to get to those few health clinics and hospitals that are open.

WHEN: Just when is the UN and U.S. going to AT LEAST create a no-fly zone over Syria?  We could do it for Iraq but not for Syria?  Assad's policy is nothing short of genocide against non-supporters of his dictatorship.  Inaction is unconscionable.

Assad Warcriminal