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Thursday, January 10, 2013

Syria: Friday of the Death Camps

As I have related before, the Friday after prayer services are named through an on-line vote by as many as 30,000 activists on submissions by groups to the main Syrian Revolution Facebook page.

These nationwide weekly peaceful protests have taken place since 15 March 2011 "Day of Rage" whenever and where ever conditions permit. They have been held in spite of constant attacks on them by the Assad regime and the civil war that has resulted.

We have seen "Friday of International Protection", "Friday of Free Women", "Friday of No-Fly Zone", "Friday of There is no terrorism in Syria except that of Assad", and "Friday of Bloody Bread."

This is the Friday of the Death Camps.

Friday of the Death Camps

In the year 2013, the Death Camps are in Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon. Collectively they currently are home to almost a half million 600,000 Syrians that have fled the violence in their country.

This violence has been particularly harsh on civilians because of the Assad regime's domination of the air and his willingness to use everything short of a whole bunch of chemical weapons (Indications are that he has used small amounts.) on even undefended communities. This together with his attacks on local infrastructure, food supplies and his use of gangs of savage killers, his shahiba, have forced hundreds of thousands of Syrians to flee the country. The UN estimates the total may be a million before long. Today the Lebanon Daily Star is reporting:
Syrian refugee numbers soar by 100,000: UN

January 11, 2013 01:25 PM
GENEVA: The number of Syrian refugees registered in neighbouring countries and North Africa has jumped by more than 100,000 in the past month to over 600,000,the UN's refugee body said Friday.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that as of Thursday, 612,134 Syrians had either been registered as refugees in neighbouring countries or were in the process of being registered, up from 509,550 announced on December 11.

"This is a sharp increase," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters in Geneva, adding that despite winter preparation, "many refugees in both camp and non-camp situations are facing particularly cold and damp conditions." More...

Many feel abandoned by a world that has stood down while Assad carried out his assault on them month after month because they saw no interest in doing otherwise.

To understand how they might feel, imagine a man at Sandy Hook with a gun in his pocket and the opportunity to take down the shooter but didn't because his kid wasn't there and it "would just add to the violence." How would the other parents feel about such a man?

Syrians are watching their children bleed to death for a lack of blood and medical supplies, and now they are watching them freeze to death.

Assad forces are even infamous for shooting at families fleeing across the border. If they are so lucky as to make their way out of Syria, most of these families will find themselves in a squalid refugee camp in a neighboring country. Anyone of them but Israel, which will also shoot at them.

They find themselves living in tents with so little of the necessities of life that those camps are also killing them. 60,000 Syrians are dead already. In 2013 it is likely that ten of thousands more will die, and not from violence, but from neglect.

Now winter is coming and children are freezing to death. It is the very old and the very young that are being taken first as those families feel abandoned by the world a second time.

SMC Center video for "Friday of the Death Camps w' subtitles | 10 Jan 2013



"Friday of the Death Camps" Protest in Homs | 11 Jan 2013



"Friday of the Death Camps" Protest in Damascus | 11 Jan 2013


Chanting "Whoever Kills their People is not Human, They are Animal"

"Friday of the Death Camps" Protest in Aleppo | 11 Jan 2013



UNICEF Spotlight: Winter's approach threatens Syrian refugee children


19 Oct 2012: Freezing winter temperatures threaten Syria's children; Executive Director Anthony Lake speaks with CNN's Christiane Amanpour about the impact of Turkey and other countries closing borders to Syrian refugees;

Save the Children on Syrian Refugee Crisis

Fears are growing for Syrian refugee children and families hit by freezing winter weather as huge funding shortages endanger relief operations.

Find out more at: http://www.savethechildren.org/Syria

Angelina Jolie for the UN meets Syrian Refugees | 7 Dec 2012


Angelina Jolie, in her role as UN special envoy, meets families who have travelled over the Syria border to Jordan. . Report by Katie Lamborn.

Click here for a list of my other diaries on Syria

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