04 January 2016By Abdulrahman Al-Rashed
It is not surprising that the Syrian regime is deliberately starving thousands
of people because it practiced this in the cellars of its prisons and against
its opponents as a policy over a period of forty years of rule. Brutality is
not alien to Iran whose generals manage the war in Syria on the ground and is
behind the siege. It is also not surprising that Hezbollah, an extremist
religious organisation, arranged for its men to oversee the siege until hunger
and death struck civilians in Syria. This is because Hezbollah in Lebanon
planted its missiles in the southern Shiite and Christian villages to use
their inhabitants as shields and propaganda in its confrontation with Israel
in 2006.
Today, 40,000 people are living, or rather, dying in the Syrian town of Madaya.
Half of these people sought refuge in Madaya after fleeing from neighbouring
towns to avoid being killed. They have been prohibited from leaving for the
last six months by Assad's forces and Hezbollah's militias which also
prohibited the entry of relief teams even though they have run out of food.
Tens of people are dying of hunger and the rest have begun to resemble
skeletons that are close to their graves. What is surprising is that the
world, with its governments, armies, human rights organisations and media did
not do anything tangible to stop the crime of death from ''mass starvation''
which it witnesses.
At the same time, there is a huge international coalition operation which
bombs organisations such as ISIS and Al-Nusra Front because they carried out
crimes against humanity which merit war. The question is: Why is there
distinction between types of crime and criminals? How can there be silence on
the biggest crime- the starvation of 40,000 people to death?
Formerly, the peak of the tragedy in Syria was the bombing of civilians until
they were made homeless. Today the peak of the tragedy is the prevention of
people from leaving so that they starve to death. The Syrian regime and the
Iranians have surrounded the town with barbed wire and planted mines around it
so that its inhabitants do not flee. The militias could have at least let them
escape and then storm the town in order to seize it from the militants holed
up inside it.
Al Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya television. He is also the
former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in the daily newspapers
of Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is a US post-graduate degree in mass
communications. He has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs. He
is currently based in Dubai.
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