It was just before 4 p.m. local time last Friday in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo when Dr. Farida Almouslem picked up the phone. With bombs falling outside, the 37-year-old calmly described the chaos unfolding around her. “I’m at home and staying in the middle of my home, because airstrikes are hitting us now,” she said. “We are hiding inside our bathroom.”
For four years now, Aleppo City, Almouslem’s hometown, has been a centerpiece in Syria’s brutal civil war, controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to the west and opposition forces to the east. The period has been marked by tragedy, bloodshed, and, for the more than 2 million people who called the city home when the fighting began, widespread collective trauma. The situation has now gone from bad to worse.
The Russian government has now said it will open humanitarian corridors to allow the besieged population safe exit, though people on the ground question how that proposal will play out. Speaking to The Intercept, Almouslem described the bleak circumstances in which medical workers and ordinary civilians in Aleppo find themselves. “The regime is killing us every day,” she said. “If they take Aleppo City, they will kill everyone.”
As Assad and his Russian allies have systematically targeted medical facilities with airstrikes, the number of doctors in Aleppo City has plummeted into the low dozens. The number of remaining medical specialists is even smaller. Almouslem, who specializes in obstetrics and gynecology, says she is one of two doctors left — in a besieged city of 300,000 — whose professional focus is on women’s health and delivering babies.
Eastern Aleppo City’s medical professionals often work underground, in the basements of crumbling buildings that serve as ERs, patient wards and operating rooms all rolled into one. Eight such facilities continue to accept patients in rebel-held territory. Almouslem’s hospital, Omar Ibn Abdel Aziz, has long been the only functioning medical facility in its pocket of eastern Aleppo City. According to the U.N., the hospital has served “an average of 5,500 outpatient consultations, 125 obstetric deliveries, 74 caesarean sections and 143 major surgeries per month.”
Assad’s push to retake eastern Aleppo City has relied on the use of overwhelming airpower, often in conjunction with the Russian military. According to the BBC, Syrian and Russian forces pounded opposition-held areas with more than 600 airstrikes in the span of just six days during the first week of July, killing 126 people — rebels responded by firing rockets into western Aleppo, killing 58 people. Since then, warplanes have showered eastern Aleppo City with bombs. “Every day, every day,” Almouslem said. “Every three or four hours.”
Since the regime seized Castello Road, residents of eastern Aleppo City have felt the noose tightening. Samer Attar, a Syrian-American physician based in Chicago, described the closure of Castello Road as a “catastrophic turning point” and detailed the horrific challenges that eastern Aleppo City’s medical community and civilian population are now facing. Attar, an orthopedic surgeon, was in Aleppo City when the Assad regime ramped up its offensive earlier this month, and caught one of the last rides out of the city before the siege began. “I saw horrifying things — children getting amputations, civilians showing up with their intestines spilling out of their bellies,” he said.
Now, there are no cars on the street, fuel is hard to come by, and driving is dangerous. Electricity is available for no more than six hours a day. Aleppo’s residents “rely on the fact that Castello Road is open for humanitarian aid, humanitarian supplies, food, cooking oil,” said Attar, speaking to The Intercept Wednesday night.
With the last remaining roadway connecting eastern Aleppo City to the outside world now severed, humanitarian groups are sounding the alarm over a potential disaster in the making. In a statement before the United Nations’ Security Council Monday, Stephen O’Brien, the U.N.’s undersecretary for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, described the deteriorating developments in eastern Aleppo as “medieval and shameful,” highlighting repeated attacks on Almouslem’s hospital, in particular, as evidence of the dangers the city’s civilian population now faces. “I cannot stress enough how critical the situation is for those trapped in eastern Aleppo City,” O’Brien said.
Assaults on medical facilities in Aleppo City, a well-documented tactic of the Assad government, continued through last weekend. While Almouslem’s hospital was spared this time around, at least four hospitals and a blood bank in opposition territory were battered by repeated airstrikes over two days. According to UNICEF, a pediatric hospital it supports in the neighborhood of al-Hakim — “the only one in the city” — was reportedly attacked twice in the span of 12 hours. “According to reports, a two-day-old baby died in his incubator due to interruptions in the oxygen supply as a result of airstrikes on al-Hakim,” the organization said in a statement Tuesday. Hours after the bombs began falling last weekend, Assad said he was prepared to continue peace talks.
Despite the rapid depletion of resources, Almouslem has continued her work on a bombed-out floor of her hospital, as well as in her own private clinic. The siege has made her 12-hour days all the more grueling. While temperatures soar over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Aleppo City, Almouslem works in operating rooms with no air conditioning.
“The average number of patients I see per day is 120,” she said. “They come for deliveries, for exams, for everything,” she explained. “Every day we deliver about 10 to 15 babies in our hospital.”
Aleppo City is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on the planet. Thousands have fled or perished since rebels swept into its ancient streets in the summer of 2012. Almouslem, however, has stayed. For her, Aleppo City, where she received her education and continues to live alongside her daughter, husband, mother, and sister, is home. If she left, she explained, the population she serves would lose half of its women’s health specialists. “I want to help them,” Almouslem said. What’s more, she added, the nature of the work she does allows her brief moments of relief from the violence engulfing her city. “When I see [a mother] smile after delivery,” she explained, “I forget everything.”
The siege of Aleppo comes at a critical time for Western governments. A U.S.-led coalition force is currently intensifying operations in the region, some of which have turned increasingly bloody, in advance of major military offensives planned against Islamic State strongholds in the Iraqi city of Mosul and Raqqa, the extremist group’s de facto capital in Syria. Secretary of State Kerry, meanwhile, is pushing a controversial proposal that would see the United States working alongside Russia in conducting airstrikes in Syria to target Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State — the idea being that in exchange for sharing targeting information, Russia would pressure the Assad regime to stop slaughtering its own people.
Critics have noted that working alongside the Russian military, which entered into the Syrian civil war in order to prop up the same Assad government currently choking the life out of eastern Aleppo City, could send a problematic message to U.S.-backed opposition forces on the ground — some of which have been targeted by Russian airstrikes in the past — and tip the balance of power in the conflict in favor of a murderous dictator.
Attar, the Syrian-American physician, believes the U.S. should take a far stronger public stance against the Assad government and its Russian allies. “Everyone saw this happening in slow motion,” he said. “Everyone saw the intensity of Russian bombardment escalating and Syrian government forces encroaching onto Castello Road.” He added, “Nothing was done.”
Almouslem, for her part, has no doubt that the Assad regime will not let up until it takes control of her city. When it does, she said, the consequences for her, and everyone around her, will be severe.
“It’s our nightmare,” she said.
I’m sure that the only reason the author hasn’t published an almost identical article, featuring the fears of a ‘doctor in Manbij’, highlighting the destruction caused by the air campaign, dismissing the ‘humanitarian corridors’ as propaganda and worse, and the hardships of the ‘siege’ is because he doesn’t have the contacts there, rather than, despite the ‘rebels’ having pretty much identical goals, and using the identical tactics, and the planes and ‘besieging forces’ also having much the same goals and tactics, him considering the planes being American, and the besieging forces American approved is more important than the parallels.
Mr. Devereaux
“……..Attar, the Syrian-American physician, believes the U.S. should take a far stronger public stance against the Assad government and its Russian allies. “Everyone saw this happening in slow motion,” he said. “Everyone saw the intensity of Russian bombardment escalating and Syrian government forces encroaching onto Castello Road.” He added, “Nothing was done.”……”
Al-Jazeera reported the use of cluster bombs by Russia in Aleppo. Cluster bombs are indiscriminate killers of civilians as are the use of Barrel bombs by the Assad regime (“HRW blames Russia for ‘relentless’ use of cluster bombs in Syria, especially in Aleppo”).
“……Human Rights Watch on Thursday accused the Syrian government and its ally Russia of extensive use of banned cluster munitions in their offensive against rebels in the war-torn country…..it had documented 47 cluster munition attacks that killed and injured dozens of civilians in rebel-held areas in three provinces since 27 May……”
This is done with full US knowledge – and without objection. It seems that the US may now be working with Russia to end the civil war with Assad in power. There can be no political solution in which Assad remains in power.
Good article. Last week the Intercept rightly called the US on the carpet for killing dozens of civilians using an aerial bombardment targeting ISIS. This week, the Intercept (Devereaux) accused the Russians of the same – using illegal cluster munitions. Ultimately, civilians suffer the consequence.
Another regime change supporter bemoaning the deaths of civilians from the illegal war he supports.
Pathetic.
Nothing like a defender of war criminals decrying war crimes… though decrying the use of cluster bombs while the “illegal” US cluster bombs fall freely in Yemen is a blatant humanitarian hypocrisy that only neolibcons can muster.
Sick in the head.
Man, a whole lotta distortion and outright propaganda in this article. The first piece is that Assad controls most of city and has for a while. Here is a corrective to much of the propaganda in the piece.
http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/05/01/exclusive-aleppo-doctor-attacks-western-media-for-bias-censorship-and-lies/
The article implies that Al Queda bombed the Western part of the city in retaliation for Russian/Assad bombing. Reality is that Al Queda has been bombing the larger Western part of the city for a long time and killing bunches of innocent civilians.
About these safety corridors. The implication of the article is that they are phony and its Assad/Russians who are not allowing people to flee. It s amazing how genocidal religious fanatics are re-cast. Both Nusrat and ISIS do not let people leave the areas they control. A number of reasons–they need human shields plus the propaganda effect. Very important, they need the civilians to tax and live off to sustain their jihad. They also need civilians to hide and escape when the civilians are allowed to flee.
Here are some corrective links:
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/07/siege-demonstrates-us-concern-trolls-hypocrisy.html#more
Now another, third siege happens and this one exposes the utter hypocrisy of the United States and the concern trolls organizations it controls.
July 28: US Envoy: Syrian Offer of Safe Passage for Aleppo Civilians ‘Chilling’
US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power condemned Syria’s leaflets, urging civilians in rebel-held East Aleppo to flee and offering them safe passage and access to temporary shelters “chilling,” insisting that the civilians must never trust a government “that’s bombed & starved them.”
Syria’s military has increased its control over the area surrounding Aleppo recently, controlling all roads leading into the east. Eastern Aleppo is controlled mostly by al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front, ..
To the U.S. propagandists the siege of east-Aleppo and the offer to leave it is “chilling”, while the siege of Manbij or Ramadi never created any such bad feelings. How come?
The insurgents in east-Aleppo, mostly of al-Qaeda in Syria, are preventing any civilians from leaving through the designated corridors the besieging forces offer.
Where is the condemnation of that?
Instead we hear a whole army of concern trolls, the IRC, the UN, Amnesty and various other propaganda shops demanding that civilians “are allowed” to stay(!) in the besieged area
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2016/Jul-29/364556-syria-rebels-prevent-civilians-from-leaving-aleppo-activists.ashx
By Friday only a few Aleppo residents had left eastern areas through one passage but others wishing to flee were prevented by rebels, said the head of the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“Around 12 people managed to use the Bustan al-Qasr corridor before rebel groups reinforced security measures and prevented families from approaching the corridors,” said Rami Abdel-Rahman
[“Secretary of State Kerry, meanwhile, is pushing a controversial proposal that would see the United States working alongside Russia in conducting airstrikes in Syria to target Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State — the idea being that in exchange for sharing targeting information, Russia would pressure the Assad regime to stop slaughtering its own people.”]
Did the Assad regime slaughter its own people before the US BACKED REBELS came to town for a coup?
And just how is the US going to fight against its own terrorist group ISIS?….By bombing hospitals? I’ve seen that before in Afghanistan.
Is The Intercept pro West/Israel now?
After writing my comment I read the other comments…and wow…all together we stand united.
Good going everyone…keep the propaganda in check.
Sparrow
“…….Did the Assad regime slaughter its own people before the US BACKED REBELS came to town for a coup?……”
Here is a report by Amnesty International calling Assad a war criminal:
“…….Background: When army tanks recently rolled into the city of Dera’a in southern Syria and began shelling residential areas, the human rights crisis in the country reached a new low. More than 400 people have died across Syria since protestors calling for political reform took to the streets in mid-March. Hundreds of people have been arbitrarily arrested and detained incommunicado, placing them at serious risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Torture of detainees has long been common and endemic in Syria…..Amnesty International has repeatedly urged the Syrian government to rein in the security forchttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/uk-editiones……The Syrian authorities have failed to take these steps and intensified repression. Consequently, Amnesty International has called on the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, to impose an arms embargo and to freeze the assets abroad of the Syrian President and his senior associates…”
Assad was solely responsible for initiating the conflict against dissidents protesting for political rights.
Still lying about how the conflict in Syria began I see.
The US/ Saudi/ Turkish regime change effort with foreign mercenaries shooting Syrian cops from among the protesters in order to trigger the violence, and then flooding the country with foreign fighters we armed and funded are the inconvenient facts these regime change supporting defenders of war criminals never want to admit.
The US backed Sunni extremists are “solely responsible for initiating the conflict” and are solely responsible for the death and destruction and resulting refugee crisis.
Hi craig…
Your light bulb has been burnt out for far too long…or you purposely want to stay dumb.
What makes these “barrel bombs” that are very much improvised, made with inferior industrial explosives more inhumane that the standard 500 lb bomb with military grade explosive that explode with 2-4 times the force?
Because they are being used to thwart America’s (maybe not the government that the American people elect, but the military-industrial/corporatist/oligarch appointed one) government policy of overthrowing (another) democratically elected ‘antidemocratic regime’.
“……Because they are being used to thwart America’s……government policy of overthrowing (another) democratically elected ‘antidemocratic regime’……”
That’s right Richard. Syria has been a textbook example of a democratic government in action since the father of the Bashar Assad (Hafez al-Assad) was first “elected” to power in 1970. The Assad family has won every “election” for the past 46 years.
I suppose you are going to call South Africa a dictatorship seeing as the ANC has won every election since the end of Apartheid.
(PS, the top job in the multiethnic, multireligious coalition that is the Syrian government was not an elected position until recently, when Iranian pressure for democratic reform moved the Syrian government to change that. But to Craig, the only democracy that can be talked about is the one that follows the same style as the old South African regime, denying the vote to the majority of its legal population on the basis of ethnicity so a minority ethnic group can pretend it’s regime is a democracy. Want to bet that, as the Saud crime lords make nice with the regime he is dedicated to propagandizing for, he’ll call that a ‘democracy’ too, ignoring that the only ones who get a vote belong to the Saud family.)
Jesus,more horseshite.The Syrian government are the good guys,and Zion and its puppet Obombaland,or will it be hellaryville?
The crisis is Zionist inspired,led and carried out.
Dahoit
“……The crisis is Zionist inspired,led and carried out…….”
You cannot seem to view any conflict in the world without some kind of Zionists conspiracy (usually by manipulating US foreign policy). I would call the current conflict in Syria Arab Spring-inspired co-opted by Saudi Arabia-Qatar-US support for the opposition to the Assad regime. Arab support for the civil war in Syria undermines the reach and imperialistic ambitions of Iran. The Saudis and Iran are vying for regional influence and power – and this is a sectarian-driven conflict.
Obviously Israel does have a stake in the war since the war is on their border and they oppose the Assad regime, but the conflict goes well beyond Israel interests.
Thanks.
Israeli support for the illegal regime change war is undeniable.
Other factors being in play does not make that a conspiracy theory.
Furthermore, the US/Saudi/Turkish backed foreign Sunni extremist interlopers foisted upon Syria does not a civil war make, and they are the source of the sectarian conflict in a previously diverse country where numerous sects and religions coexisted peacefully.
Iran aiding their ally Syria also does not “imperialistic ambitions” make unless you are lying sack of shit distorting the definition of imperialism… though that claim may apply to the US, Saudis and Turks who hoped to gain control.
The Yinon plan: “Greater Israel”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHOYD5RbqsM
Enough already! The West needs to get out of Syria and let Assad consolidate the country. Better to have a dictatorship than another failed state. At least the slaughter will stop.
BTW, was it an intentional omission to exclude the identities of these “rebels” in Aleppo?
Do you not know who they are or did you just not want to report those facts?
And, the whole “Assad killing his own people” thing may need some revision, because journalists have reported that large percentages of the “rebels” are not in fact Syrians.
And while you’re at it, perhaps you could explain the rationalizing that makes it acceptable for the US, the Saudis and the Turks ( and of course we can’t exclude the regular bombings by Israel) to kill Syrians?
Is there a double standard whereby foreigners killing Syrians is somehow less reprehensible than Assad attacking the Syrians who have sided with the foreign backed interlopers?
I realize this may appear to be snark, but I truly would like to see an attempt at clarifying the gaping flaws in this article.
Spot on !
I can’t believe how much propaganda this article is spewing, has the US government infiltrated TI
I wonder why the announcement that Assad is offering amnesty to the US backed “moderate rebels” was left out of this article, and the fact that US involvement in Syria is illegal? these tidbits may help citizens, like myself, to weigh all facts as to form a truly informed opinion. it is about the truth, right?
As a certain bit of American pop culture put it, those facts (and others) were left out because ‘You can’t handle the truth’. (Which, of course, means ‘if you knew the facts, you might come to a different conclusion than the one we want you to’)
The authors of this evil reside in Washington, London, Riyadh and Wall Street, not in Damascus.
Dreadful propaganda piece, the main fighting group in eastern Alleppo are Al Nusra Front [Al Qaeda franchise] they are a Wahhabi Islamist group backed by Saudi Arabia Qatar and Turkey. They cut the heads off anyone not like the sectarian bigots they are, and sell women as sex slaves. Assad is the legitimate President of Syria. In the Presidential election in 2014 he received 88% of the vote on a turnout of 70%, the Ba’ath party won 80% of seats in the 2016 election, which were declared fair by all outside observers. He clearly commands the support of most Syrians of all religious persuasions. Professor Tim Anderson cuts through all this propaganda in a series of articles like this one. link to http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-dirty-war-on-syria/5491859
Instead of allowing the Syrians and Russians to do anything, lets just allow the jihadi element to use the people there as human shields and continue the siege for months until starvation or worse occurs, or until the harpy can get her way and establish a no-fly zone on behalf of the el qaeda element. In light of the 9/11 report finally coming out, any relief to salafist Jihadis is real treason, not feigned posturing about treason as supporters of the Harpy’s campaign attack Trump for.
So for those of us old, retired, living on fixed incomes in the West (America), would someone PLEASE who is more tech savvy, more sophisticated set up some sort of mechanism that we old folks could possible assist/accommodate? Perhaps the situation is too far gone for that; but this is not the time for words – but for action and dollars can and do make a difference.
I hope there is some far-younger-than-me person who can get the ball rolling. I simply do not have the ‘technical” skills but, as a mother and a human being, my heart aches – more so in this instance than most.
SOS…………………..from the older generation to the younger. Please help us help these folks . Thanks for whatever assistance you can provide . Perhaps publicity of these gruesome, horrific (even for Assad and crew) beyond the Intercept.
Ryan, as always, thank you for the reporting you do.
There is such a mechanism.
It’s called voting.
Don’t vote for either the Dems or the Repubs, because both support the illegal regime change war that has caused all the death and destruction.
If you’re going to donate, support anti-war groups, because many of the aid groups have been coopted by the regime change gang.
If only Obama had kept his word and attacked Assad after he found out Assad was using chemical weapons. Even now I believe the US could push Russia out of Syria and end the Assad regime once and for all. Too bad our current nor next leader will not have the guts to do so.
Funny that the experts blamed the “rebels” aka foreign mercenaries armed and funded by the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey for those chemical attacks.
Are you just waiting for the right time to sign up to go to Syria to “push Russia out of Syria and end the Assad regime”? Or do you expect others to do the fighting for you?
And, if successful, will you be supporting IS or al Qaida to assume leadership?
Well,Hankenstein,you first.Gutless huh?Thought so.
Another zioliar
An affliction runs through it.
For me one of the saddest things about this story is that it is so similar to stories I read about Sarajevo when it was being besieged (I recommend the Joe Kubert Fax From Sarajevo for a well-told yet harrowing account from inside the city when the siege happened).
When are we going to learn dammit ???
Cheap pro-Terrorist propaganda. When it comes to geopolitics it’s (very unfortunately) better to ignore The Intercept. It is absolutely ok and in my opinion necessary to show different points of views, which can of course be critical of Assad policies. But in this regard, The Intercept has been as one sided as the corporate main media and doesn’t seem to be interested in informing readers about what’s going on in the Middle East and other conflict-regions.
Every newspaper with a dominant sponsor has an agenda, seems not to be different here.
Btw, those who want to learn about what’s going on in all those countries, I recommend to start with the history of those regions (back to the times where the British Empire interfered). Books from authors like Jürgen Todenhöfer (Inside IS and other titles), “See no Evil” from Robert Baer and other authors. The work of people/journalists who actually experienced stuff, travelled there, talked to various people/personalities and carefully try to evaluate different views of parties are more valuable to a reader who wants to make her/his own opinion.
It’s certainly more difficult than just reading propaganda texts, which tell us who’s the enemy and who isn’t. But wasn’t it also worth to understand what Snowden is about instead of just calling him “Traitor! Spy!”?
“Thousands have fled or perished since rebels swept into its ancient streets in the summer of 2012″
First of all. it should be “rebels” not rebels.
Secondly, as the cause of the death and destruction and predictable response by the legal government, the “rebels” and their US, Saudi and Turkish backers would seem to be the ones to blame.
I find it rather disconcerting that this anti-Assad crap is being spewed at TI.
You know what functioned really well before the criminal regime change war in Syria?
The hospitals in Aleppo built by Assad and staffed by doctors trained under the Assad governments.
These sob stories about the horrors of the war America wanted and supported being used as propaganda to get Americans to support the ongoing regime change effort seems really, really, pathetically hypocritical and very much beneath the level of the journalism here.
Furthermore, the “rebels” and similarly biased groups concluding that the targeting of medical facilities is an intentional strategy of Assad and the Russians, and a TI reporter repeating it as fact, reminds me of a series of articles here at TI about a hospital in Afghanistan.
Of course, that targeting was accidental as concluded by the comparably trustworthy US military that shredded those medical facilities… though some may recall that respectable journalists challenged that conclusion using… whatchamacallit?… oh yeah, facts.
Besides, the New Yorker basically published this article a couple of months ago, and instead of repeating their propaganda efforts, perhaps some original journalism could be pursued?
Thank you.
Not even a mention that Assad is an elected leader, in a democratic nation, with a Parliament that his party has the majority in, as part of a coalition that has something like 80% of parliament on board.
And, unlike the US, there is no credible evidence that the elections were rigged. Assad’s position is more legitimate, under any rational standard, than the nomination of the person most responsible for the Syrian catastrophe, who was nominated on TV tonight.
Thank you.
I was going to write a much nastier and more acerbic comment than yours. It is disheartening to have to recapitulate the entire history of the Syrian Civil War every time someone in the media decides to write a slanted story.
What you are seeing in Syria and Libya (and probably Turkey soon), is what the ancient Romans knew. They believed that civil war was the worst thing that could befall a nation. Virtually every secular Arab country has been attacked, destroyed and some version of Islamic State or Muslim Brotherhood introduced.
I wish to say only — and from right here in the Middle East, by the way — that I concur completely with pretty much everything that Altohone has to say. Thank all the gods that there do exist a few folks like him, adequately informed and sufficiently intelligent. Only a shame that western journos number so few among them.
Another “thank you” from me…
Many reptilian experts will relate the primitive barbaric practices of dinosaurs and crocs. Unlike reptiles, humans are classed differently yet upon reading the history of humans in the bible and elsewhere, it quickly becomes obvious how humans behaved differently as genocide has been a common sport from way back and hasn’t let up at all. Yet the experts will insist we evolved from apes, not reptiles. Perhaps in appearance only. Ancient gene technology?