We
face up to awful things because we can't go around them, or forget
them. The sooner you say 'Yes, it happened, and there's nothing I can do
about it,' the sooner you can get on with your own life. You've got
children to bring up. So you've got to get over it. Even the worst
things...
In the narrow streets adjacent to the Tsukiji fish market, men on infernal machines drive quickly among people and cars. They seem to never stop, are constantly racing against time to get to who knows where.
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Only the worst thief would steal someone's childhood
Only the worst thief would steal someone's childhood
Only the worst thief would steal someone's childhood
death from above
A Russian-made Syrian air force MiG-23 fighter jet flies over the rebel-held town of Arbin, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region.: photo by Amer Almohibany/AFP, 21 February 2018
SYRIA
- A wounded Syrian girl receives treatment at a make-shift hospital in
Kafr Batna following Syrian government bombardments on the besieged
Eastern Ghouta region.
Photo
Ammar Suleiman #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 22 February 2018
Regime bombardment of Eastern Ghouta: image by Omar KAMAL/AFP, 22 February 2018
A Syrian military helicopter flies over the rebel-held town of Kafr Batna during a bombardment on February 21, 2018: photo by Amer ALMOHIBANY/AFP, 21 February 2018
A Syrian surveys the destruction after an air strike on the Eastern Ghouta town of Hamouria on February 21, 2018: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2o18
Wounded Syrians wait to receive treatment at a makeshift hospital in the Eastern Ghouta town of Kafr Batna following a bombardment by government forces on February 21, 2018: photo by Amer ALMOHIBANY/AFP, 21 February 2018
Chaos deepens in Syria enclave, global outcry grows: AFP, 22 February 2018
The Syrian regime rained rockets and bombs on Eastern Ghouta Thursday, killing another 19 civilians as international pressure mounted to stop the carnage in the rebel-held enclave.
Calls for a
humanitarian truce in one of the bloodiest episodes of Syria's
seven-year-old conflict went unheeded as the death toll for Damascus's
five-day blitz rose to 368.
The United Nations chief said the bloodshed wreaked by the
aerial campaign had turned Eastern Ghouta into "hell on earth", while
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for an end to the "massacre".
Residents
huddled in basements as government forces pounded the besieged enclave
with rockets and bombs, turning towns into fields of ruins and even
hitting hospitals.
Regime bombardment of Eastern Ghouta: image by Omar KAMAL/AFP, 22 February 2018
According to Doctors Without Borders, 13 of the
facilities it supports in Eastern Ghouta were damaged or destroyed in
three days, leaving remaining staff with very little to save the
hundreds of wounded brought to them every day.
In the hospital
mortuary in Douma, the main town in the enclave just east of Damascus,
bodies wrapped in white shrouds were already lining up on the floor, two
of them children.
Little pools of blood dotted the way to the hospital,
where most of the victims of the sustained rocket fire unleashed by
government troops on Thursday were taken.
A Syrian military helicopter flies over the rebel-held town of Kafr Batna during a bombardment on February 21, 2018: photo by Amer ALMOHIBANY/AFP, 21 February 2018
Nowhere safe
"The rocket fire hasn't stopped this morning. Around
200 ground-to-ground rockets struck Douma alone," said Rami Abdel
Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Morning
rain appeared to initially keep warplanes away but the sky cleared by
midday and jets, some of them Russian according to the Observatory, soon
returned.
Russia has so far denied direct involvement in the assault
on Ghouta but the pro-government Syrian newspaper Al-Watan reported on
Thursday that Russian warplanes and advisers had joined the battle.
Regime
and allied forces have been massing around the enclave, in which an
estimated 400,000 people live, ahead of a likely ground offensive to
flush out holdout Islamist and jihadist groups.
The brief respite
provided by the rain on Thursday encouraged some residents to venture
out of their basements and shelters, to buy food, check on their
property or enquire about their relatives and neighbours.
A Syrian surveys the destruction after an air strike on the Eastern Ghouta town of Hamouria on February 21, 2018: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2o18
In the town of Hammuriyeh, a queue had formed outside a
shop as starving residents tried to stock up but another rocket sowed
panic and sent everybody back to their shelters.
In Douma, a young boy tried to peddle lighters on the street but rocket fire quickly forced him to scamper back to cover.
Powerless
An AFP correspondent saw rescuers
known as the "White Helmets" forced to stop their efforts to retrieve a
wounded woman from the rubble of a collapsed home when air strikes
resumed.
When they ventured back to the site, the woman was dead.
The
indiscriminate bombardment and the strikes on medical facilities
sparked global outrage but few concrete options emerged to stop the
bloodletting.
"The killing of children, the destruction of
hospitals -- all that amounts to a massacre that must be condemned and
which must be countered with a clear no," Merkel said.
Wounded Syrians wait to receive treatment at a makeshift hospital in the Eastern Ghouta town of Kafr Batna following a bombardment by government forces on February 21, 2018: photo by Amer ALMOHIBANY/AFP, 21 February 2018
Russia has asked for a special meeting of the UN
Security Council and the Red Cross has demanded it be allowed to enter
the besieged enclave to help overwhelmed doctors and nurses to treat the
wounded.
The aid community voiced its frustration as the world
appeared once again powerless to stop a conflict that has left almost
350,000 dead in seven years and caused destruction rarely seen since
World War II.
Humanitarian agencies are "sickened that no matter how
many times they've raised the alarm, taken the step of speaking out,
called on the Security Council to do something, the violence and
brutality will sink to new lows," a statement by the Syria INGO Regional
Forum said.
Talks for a deal between the regime and the armed groups controlling Ghouta appear to have stalled.
Syrians chant
anti-Russia slogans outside the Russian Consulate in Istanbul, Thursday,
Feb. 22, 2018, during a protest against the airstrikes and shelling by
the Syrian government forces in Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, Syria. New
airstrikes and shelling on the besieged, rebel-held suburbs of the
Syrian capital Damascus killed at least 10 people on Wednesday, a rescue
organization and a monitoring group said.: photo by Lefteris Pitarakis/AP, 22 February 2018
Syria war: Russia says no agreement on ceasefire resolution: BBC News, 22 February 2018
Russia says it wants
changes to a UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Syria
amid growing outrage over civilian deaths in a rebel enclave under
Syrian government bombardment.
Russia's UN ambassador called for "feasible" not "populist" action.
But
Western diplomats say Russia is stalling for time and France said
failure to act could spell the end of the Security Council itself.
Activists say 400 people have been killed in Eastern Ghouta in five days.
The UN body in New York is due to vote on the resolution on Friday at 11:00 local time (16:00 GMT).
Russia,
one of five powers that can veto a resolution, is a key backer of
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war. Western powers
suspect that Moscow wants to give its ally time to deal a final blow to
rebel forces.
The United States, the UK and France are calling for the resolution to be approved without delay.
The draft, put forward by Kuwait and Sweden, calls for a 30-day nationwide truce to go into effect 72 hours after the resolution is passed.
Medical
evacuations and aid deliveries would start 48 hours after that. The
draft says 5.6 million people in 1,244 communities across the country
are in acute need.
Russia says it has presented amendments to the draft resolution -
but Sweden's UN ambassador Olof Skoog told the BBC that getting aid to
the Eastern Ghouta was the main objective.
"I think that without
the pressure coming from a united Security Council things are not
happening the way they should on the ground," he said.
"So I
think for the council it's a little bit less about the details and more
about giving a political pressure to ensure that this happens."
France's UN ambassador François Delattre said the
UN's inability to help Syrian civilians would result in a devastating
loss of credibility.
The draft resolution also calls for all
parties to avoid establishing military positions in civilian areas,
including schools and hospitals. Sieges of populated areas should be
lifted.
Under the terms of the resolution, any ceasefire would not apply to the Islamic State group, al-Qaeda and the al-Nusra Front.
But
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has made clear that Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham, an al-Qaeda-linked alliance that has a presence in the Eastern
Ghouta, must also be excluded.
Mr Lavrov said he also wanted to
exclude rebel groups in the enclave who are "co-operating" with Hayat
Tahrir al-Sham and shelling nearby government-held areas.
Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia stressed the need for a resolution that would actually work.
"What
we need is not symbolism, not decisions for the sake of decisions, but
rather measures that are undertaken that are commensurate with
conditions on the ground," he said.
For the fifth day running, Syrian government forces carried out a wave of air and artillery strikes.
For the fifth day running, Syrian government forces carried out a wave of air and artillery strikes.
The
number killed since Sunday has risen to at least 403, the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group says, as 46 more died on
Thursday.
The
Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, said residential
areas in the town of Douma came under sustained attack, first from
ground-to-ground rockets and then government and Russian jets.
Spokesman
Siraj Mahmoud said the organisation was being deliberately targeted by
government aircraft, with four rescuers killed since Sunday night.
"Everyone knows it is an extermination," he told the Associated Press.
The
Syrian state news agency meanwhile reported that a child was killed and
six civilians wounded in the government-controlled Barzeh district of
Damascus by shellfire. Army units responded with "precision strikes",
destroying a number of rebel positions and inflicting heavy losses, it
said.
The UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Syria, Panos Moumtzis, echoed calls for a ceasefire.
Referring
to the harrowing images coming out of the Eastern Ghouta, he said: "If
this is not going to convince [UN security] council members, council
states, of the need for a ceasefire, honestly we don't know what is it
that would convince them."
Aid groups report dozens of hospitals being put out of action since Sunday.
Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF) said the government's siege was also preventing
medics from obtaining essential life-saving supplies, warning that its
facilities had completely run out of supplies of blood bags, general
anaesthetic drugs and intravenous antibiotics.
#Turkey Protest against the airstrikes and shelling by Syrian
government forces in Ghouta in front of the Russian Consulate in
Istanbul. Photo @ozankosee #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 22 February 20
Mother see[s] her son die in front of her eyes and says he always tells me that he would like to die to go to heaven
because there is food and everything.
I'm sorry to tell you that the child died #GhoutaGenocide BBC News Russia says no agreement: tweet via Amer almohibany @amer_almohibany, 22 February 2018
A man carries an infant rescued from the rubble of buildings on Monday,
after government bombing in the rebel-held town of Hamouria, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region, on the outskirts of thye Syrian capitol, Damascus: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
A man carries an infant rescued from the rubble of buildings on Monday,
after government bombing in the rebel-held town of Hamouria, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region, on the outskirts of thye Syrian capitol, Damascus: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
Smoke plumes rise Tuesday after a regime airstrike in the rebel-held town of Hamouria.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
Smoke plumes rise Tuesday after a regime airstrike in the rebel-held town of Hamouria.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
Smoke plumes rise Tuesday after a regime airstrike in the rebel-held town of Hamouria.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
LEFT:
A woman and children run for cover Monday after government bombing in
Hamouria.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
RIGHT: A member of the Syrian Civil Defense, popularly known
as the White Helmets, carries an injured child rescued from the rubble.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
LEFT: A woman and children run for cover Monday after government bombing in Hamouria.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
LEFT: A woman and children run for cover Monday after government bombing in Hamouria.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
RIGHT: A member of the Syrian Civil Defense, popularly known
as the White Helmets, carries an injured child rescued from the rubble.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
Volunteers from
the White Helmets search for injured victims in the rubble of buildings
in Hamouria on Tuesday: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
Volunteers from the White Helmets search for injured victims in the rubble of buildings in Hamouria on Tuesday: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
Volunteers from the White Helmets search for injured victims in the rubble of buildings in Hamouria on Tuesday: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
A man carries an infant injured in an attack in Hamouria on Monday.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
A man carries an infant injured in an attack in Hamouria on Monday.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
Civilians look at the rubble in the wake of government attacks in Hamouria on Monday.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
Civilians look at the rubble in the wake of government attacks in Hamouria on Monday.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
Injured children are treated at a hospital in Douma, Syria, on Monday.: photo by Mohammed Badra/European Pressphoto Agency, 21 February 2018
Injured children are treated at a hospital in Douma, Syria, on Monday.: photo by Mohammed Badra/European Pressphoto Agency, 21 February 2018
A body of a child lies on the floor of a morgue in rebel-held Douma on Tuesday.: photo by Mohammed Badra/European Pressphoto Agency, 21 February 2018
A body of a child lies on the floor of a morgue in rebel-held Douma on Tuesday.: photo by Mohammed Badra/European Pressphoto Agency, 21 February 2018
A body of a child lies on the floor of a morgue in rebel-held Douma on Tuesday.: photo by Mohammed Badra/European Pressphoto Agency, 21 February 2018
The body
of a girl is moved at a morgue in Douma on Tuesday, leaving a trail of
blood.: photo by Mohammed Badra/European Pressphoto Agency, 21 February 2018
The body of a girl is moved at a morgue in Douma on Tuesday, leaving a trail of blood.: photo by Mohammed Badra/European Pressphoto Agency, 21 February 2018
The body of a girl is moved at a morgue in Douma on Tuesday, leaving a trail of blood.: photo by Mohammed Badra/European Pressphoto Agency, 21 February 2018
An injured child receives treatment Monday at a makeshift hospital in Hamouria.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
An injured child receives treatment Monday at a makeshift hospital in Hamouria.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
An injured child receives treatment Monday at a makeshift hospital in Hamouria.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 21 February 2018
The town of Hamouria, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, has been devastated by the government’s bombing campaign.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 22 February 2018
The
town of Hamouria, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the
outskirts of the Syrian capital, has been devastated by the government’s
bombing campaign.: photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP, 22 February 2018
Syria Civil Defense members help an unconscious woman from an underground shelter in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta Photo @BassamKhabieh: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 21 February 2018
Plus
de 400 civils, dont une centaine d'enfants, ont été tués depuis
dimanche dans l'enclave rebelle de la Ghouta orientale par les intenses
bombardements du régime syrien. Ce dernier fait fi des appels
internationaux à stopper le bain de sang #AFP: image via Agence France-Presse @afpfr. 21 February 2018
Conséquence de ce déluge de feu déversé par les forces du président
syrien Bachar al-Assad, de nombreux habitants de la Ghouta orientale ont
trouvé refuge dans des sous-sols, parfois après avoir fui leur domicile
en ruine: image via Agence France-Presse @afpfr. 21 February 2018
Damaged Hamouriyah hospital after an airstrike in eastern Ghouta in Damascus on 21 February.: photo by Anadolu Agency/Getty Images, 21 February 2018
More suffering in besieged #Ghouta, ambulances are under attacks also and no access to bring any more instead of the attacked ones. @ICRC_sy should immediately cover this very important gap. 10 ambulances at least are out of duty: image via Mohamad Katoub @MhdKatoub, 21 February 2018
Department of Central Ambulance Yesterday 20/02/2018 Damascus countryside specialist Hospital #Children #Shells #Siege #Damascus #Douma #TogetherForGhouta #Syria #Always: image via Douma Medical @Doumamedical, 21 February 2018
Department of Central Ambulance Yesterday 20/02/2018 Damascus countryside specialist Hospital #Children #Shells #Siege #Damascus #Douma #TogetherForGhouta #Syria #Always: image via Douma Medical @Doumamedical, 21 February 2018
closed to the vest
A model wears a creation as part of the Gucci women's Fall/Winter 2018-2019 collection, presented during the Milan Fashion Week, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018.: photo by Antonio Calanni/AP, 21 February 2018
A model wears a creation as part of the Gucci women's Fall/Winter 2018-2019 collection, presented during the Milan Fashion Week, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018.: photo by Antonio Calanni/AP, 21 February 2018
"Be a model they said" The #GucciFW18 runway by #AlessandroMichele @gucci All access Photo to #MilanFashionWeek: image via Getty Images News @GettyImagesNews, 21 February 2018
"Be a model they said" The #GucciFW18 runway by #AlessandroMichele @gucci All access Photo to #MilanFashionWeek: image via Getty Images News @GettyImagesNews, 20 February 2018
President Trump hosts mass shooting victims and their family members at the White House in a listening session Photo: @somogettynews: image via Getty Images News @GettyImagesNews, 21 February 2018
President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with state and local officials to discuss school safety, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018, in Washington.: photo by Evan Vucci/AP, 22 February 2018
President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with state and local officials to discuss school safety, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018, in Washington.: photo by Evan Vucci/AP, 22 February 2018
It's all too easy to focus on Trump's severe personal limitations and miss the larger point, that it's the script for a show. #ListeningSession #GunReform: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 22 February 2018
So much for holding your cards closed [sic] to the vest. And sorry but yes, do worry about Trump protecting all the boys and the girls. Photo @somogettynews. Trump @MassShootings listening session. #GunViolence: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 22 February 2018
It's all too easy to focus on Trump's severe personal limitations and miss the larger point, that it's the script for a show. #ListeningSession #GunReform: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 22 February 2018
West Boca High School students protest as others attend the funeral of 15 year old Peter Wang, a boy whose dream was to attend West Point Photo: @jraedle: image via Getty Images News @GettyImagesNews, 20 February 2018
Women dancers wait to
perform during beach festival in Bali, Indonesia, Thursday, Feb. 22,
2018. The three-day beach festival is organized to promote tourism on
the resort island.: photo by Firdia Lisnawati/AP, 22 February 2018
"Be a model they said" The #GucciFW18 runway by #AlessandroMichele @gucci All access Photo to #MilanFashionWeek: image via Getty Images News @GettyImagesNews, 21 February 2018
Canadian fans watch during the first period of the women's gold medal hockey game the United States and Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018.: photo by Jae C. Hong/AP, 22 February 2018
Canadian fans watch during the first period of the women's gold medal hockey game the United States and Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018.: photo by Jae C. Hong/AP, 22 February 2018
Listen to our first podcast episode with guest @jenatkinhair @nbcgoodgirls: image via Who What Wear @WhoWhatWear, 2 February 2018
Torin Yater-Wallace of the U.S. crashes during the freestyle halfpipe at #PyeongChang2018 Photo Jorge Silva: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 21 February 2018
Silver medalist Ramon Zenhaeusern, of Switzerland, left, gold medalist Andre Myhrer, of Sweden, and bronze medalist Michael Matt, of Austria, walk to the podium during the venue ceremony after the men's slalom at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018.: photo by Charlie Riedel/AP, 22 February 2018
Silver medalist Ramon Zenhaeusern, of Switzerland, left, gold medalist Andre Myhrer, of Sweden, and bronze medalist Michael Matt, of Austria, walk to the podium during the venue ceremony after the men's slalom at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018.: photo by Charlie Riedel/AP, 22 February 2018
People gather to mourn the death of a Pakistani laborer Inzamam Hussain in Tetrinote Hajeera, situated at the Line of Control between Pakistan and Indian Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. Pakistan's foreign ministry says Indian troops opened fire in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, killing Hussain on the Pakistani side of the boundary.: photo by M.D. Mughal/AP, 2 February 2018
People gather to mourn the death of a Pakistani laborer Inzamam Hussain in Tetrinote Hajeera, situated at the Line of Control between Pakistan and Indian Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. Pakistan's foreign ministry says Indian troops opened fire in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, killing Hussain on the Pakistani side of the boundary.: photo by M.D. Mughal/AP, 2 February 2018
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