Syrian Network for Human Rights: No less than 59 Medical Centers have been Targeted by Russian Forces since its Intervention in Syria
Introduction and Methodology
Since the Russian attacks began in Syria, SNHR has issued 16 different reports on incidents that involved bombing civil targets in opposition-held and ISIS-held areas. These attacks have caused casualties, destruction, and displacement that constitute war crimes.
We focused in some of the previous reports on major massacres in particular, and we will devote the 17th report to document the targeting of medical centers. This report is an update on a previous report that documents the targeting of medical centers particularly by Russian forces. The first report “The Grozny Holocaust in Aleppo”, published on 19 February 2016, documents the bombing of 27 medical centers.
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Syria Deeply Weekly Update: Aleppo Under Fire Again, Opposition’s New Peace Plan

The most important updates on the war in Syria.
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WEEKLY UPDATE
September 10, 2016
Dear Readers,Welcome to the weekly Syria Deeply newsletter. We’ve rounded up the most important stories and developments concerning Syria and the Syrians in order to bring you valuable news and analysis. But first, here is an overview of what happened this week:At least 47 people were killed when six bombs exploded in four Syrian provinces between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. local time on Monday. The deadliest of the attacks was a double bombing in the government-held coastal province of Tartous in which at least 35 people died. Bombs also went off in the Kurd-held province of Hasaka and government-controlled areas of Homs and Damascus.The battle in northern Syria continues with Turkish and Syrian government forces both making gains. Over the weekend, Turkish troops and their allied opposition forces pushed ISIS militants out of the Syrian border area with Turkey. On Wednesday, Turkish shelling killed six Kurdish security forces in Afrin, a northwestern city controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).Forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad retook parts of Aleppo early in the week, effectively putting the eastern part of the city under siege. On Tuesday night, at least 120 people, including 10 women and 37 children, were hurt in a suspected chlorine gas attack in the al-Sukkari district of opposition-held eastern Aleppo. Two days later, shelling from Islamist groups in the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud district killed the last remaining pediatrician in the area.A group of doctors in Aleppo also urged the international community to respond to a crisis in the south of the city. They say the only hospital in the area, which serves roughly 125,000 people, will be relocated to another district by the end of the month.Pro-government forces are also in the midst of a major battle with opposition forces in Hama. At the end of August, several opposition factions launched the biggest offensive in the western central province since 2014. In the two weeks since fighting began, some 100,000 people have been displaced.On the diplomatic front, Russia and the U.S. failed to reach a cease-fire agreement this week, just as the Syrian opposition revealed its plan for political transition that would see President Assad and members of his government step down. The three-phase plan presented by the High Negotiations Committee includes a six-month negotiation and cease-fire, an interim government in power for roughly a year and a half, followed by the establishment of a new constitution and United Nations-supervised elections.Although no nationwide cease-fire has been agreed on the international stage, another local truce was negotiated in the Damascus suburbs this week following the earlier evacuation of Darayya city. Under the terms of the deal, fighters in Mouadamiya will be transferred to the rebel-held province of Idlib. Those who wish to remain must surrender their weapons by Monday.

Weekly Highlights:

The Long Road From Raqqa to Europe

After ISIS militants executed his 17-year-old son, Khalaf and his family fled their home in Raqqa, Syria for Europe. This is the story of their journey, which has yet to end, as border closings continue to tear the family apart.
Tamadur al-Muhawish and five of her daughters in Greece. The family fled Raqqa after al-Muhawish’s son was executed by the Islamic State. Al-Mu’tasim Khalaf

Analysis: How Evacuating al-Waer and ‘Other Darayyas’ Will Help Assad

The recent ultimatum directed at the besieged city of Darayya is just one example of a larger strategy of population displacement that the Assad government will use to regain control of opposition-held Syria.
Syrian soldiers are seen at the entrance of Darayya, a blockaded Damascus suburb, on August 26, 2016. AP Photo

Inside the Turkish Camps Where Syrian Refugees Work for $8 a Day

Thousands of Syrian refugees are now employed as migrant farm workers across Turkey, and they are particularly vulnerable to exploitation – especially as the government has effectively sanctioned their use as cheap labor.
Children play inside a concrete warehouse outside Torbali, Turkey, where hundreds of refugees working as migrant laborers sleep. Danielle Villasana

Additional Reading:

Find our new reporting and analysis every weekday at www.newsdeeply.com/syria.

You can reach our team with any comments or suggestions at info@newsdeeply.org.

Top image: Residents of the Damascus suburb of Darayya leave the Mouadamiya area on Thursday, Sept. 8. The second phase of an agreement reached by the Syrian government for people to leave Mouadamiya was implemented Thursday, with nearly 150 people heading to a nearby suburb. AP Photo
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Syrian Network for Human Rights: The Syrian Regime Uses Chemical Weapons again and Insults the Security Council for a 137th Time
On Monday 6 September 2016 around 1:30 PM, government forces helicopters dropped a barrel bomb loaded with poison gases near “Wafaa Kharsa” pharmacy in Al Sukkari neighborhood, Aleppo city. We documented the killing of one individual, Mohammad AbdulKarim Afifa, in that attack while no less than 80 others were injured showing symptoms such as suffocation and shortness of breath.
SNHR contacted a number of residents who witnessed the bombardment incident (some of them suffered breathing difficulties), they told us about the symptoms they saw on the injured such as suffocation, red eyes, limbs tremoring which was also confirmed by the pictures and videos we received and have stored.
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Salam Kawakibi: Manufactured Expertise: Selling Out Arab News Audiences

Since the onset of the “Arab Spring,” and through the development of revolutionary phases, with their violent consequences, Arab satellite TV stations, which reach millions of viewers, persistently devoted themselves to broadcasting interviews with “analysts,” “academics,” and “experts” on the issues surrounding various national uprisings.
As events continued to unfold, the demand for these types of guests increased, despite a structural supply shortage of serious and professional experts. Subsequently, some stations resorted to “manufacturing” their experts, inviting virtual unknowns and bestowing upon them supreme titles in an attempt to artificially qualify them for their roles as news analysts without having to go through the vetting process of reviewing their actual scientific or practical credentials.
As a result, many true experts – including those knowledgeable about the subject matter in question – simply refused to participate in the charade. Respect for the viewers, and their intelligence, as well as the experts’ own self-respect made them unwilling to be misrepresented.
Other groups chose to strictly confine their TV appearances within the limits of their expertise, avoiding pretensions, or the temptation to make claims of knowledge in areas outside their specializations or practical experiences. Nonetheless, a majority of the guests did willingly plunge into the maze of spotlights, exploiting the qualitative and quantitative shortage of truly qualified experts. They emerged as “stars” of the screen, triumphing at the expense of the viewer, regardless of the simplicity of his understanding and the shallowness of his knowledge.
The interviews varied from individual commentary on a specific event to confrontational conversations between two or more speakers. The moderator often actively stirred up the atmosphere, inducing shouting matches and raised voices in order to attract the largest number of thrill-seeking guests. Arabic-language satellites distinguished themselves in producing these types of talk shows, justifying the final product as a form of vigorous debate and diversity of opinion. Some of these programs gained wide popularity with many viewers anxiously awaiting their broadcasts, like people lining up to watch a street fight.
As the Syrian slaughter continued unabated, these talk show programs became profitable. Those searching for calm and deliberate analysis instead found guests engaged in shouting matches punctuated with harsh, reckless words, and thoughtless gestures. Originally exclusive to Arab TV stations, this practice was soon imitated by the new Europe-based Arabic stations. A majority of those managing the diasporic media still embrace a share of the authoritarian Arab media culture which they carried with them as they migrated to the West, releasing hidden desires to exercise power in doses of professionally unjustified aggressiveness. The image of the winner and the loser becomes clear in these conversations: whoever has the louder voice and the greater skill in mocking their opponent will emerge as the victor.
According to the old economic market doctrine, demand creates supply. On Arab satellite talk shows, this means a vast market of loud-talking “specialists” in the Syrian conflict who have just strolled into TV studios after practicing in other arenas. Both Syrian regime representatives and supporters start to psychologically manipulate their counterparts even before taking the stage. The regime representatives, polished, and professionally made up, face the opposition’s spokesperson as if to impart to him the ability to facilitate his “return to the homeland,” or they continue to make gestures that question his patriotism and nationality. Utilizing the Stasi method – according to the horrific East German intelligence service – he succeeds in aggravating the atmosphere, pushing the opposition debater to fall into the trap of entrenching himself in a defensive position, and resorting to verbal violence which causes him to lose control over his thought processes. On the opposite side, the loyalist guest, carefully trained, remains sufficiently calm when necessary, and adequately raises his voice when he becomes vindictive.
However, others, not just regime loyalists, find themselves guilty of hollow speech. The “revolutionary” voice or opposition falls into the trap of populism, and an empty rhetoric devoid from meaning, often reverting to repetition of already-stated sentences which they think, erroneously, will enable them to preserve their credibility and popularity. Ultimately, they distance themselves from actually delving into the subject, or properly analyzing it.
The first and the last victim remains the Syrian viewer who searches for intellectual assistance, or even truthful news assistance, to aid his own personal understanding of daily issues. The Syrians, and other Arabs, who live with great pain and deep wounds, constitute the real losers far more than all these guests on the satellite screens who are presumably considered “strategic experts.”
Edited translation from the Arabic by Elie Chalala. The author has granted Al Jadid magazine the right to translate and publish his essay. The Arabic version of Mr. al-Kawakibi’s essay appeared in https://hunasotak.com/article/21186.

This essay is scheduled to appear in the forthcoming Al Jadid, Vol. 20, no. 71 (2016).