MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES, May 23, 2013
The conflict in Syria is extremely intense. Frontlines continue to shift. The medical system is reduced to tatters. An estimated 6.8 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria and in the neighbouring countries. And people in enclaves are cut off from assistance.
Despite the very real challenges of operating in the country, MSF is now running five hospitals inside Syria and is increasing mobile clinic activities around some of these hospitals. Simultaneously, MSF is actively seeking to open new projects where it is safe to do so.
MSF is using only private donations for its work in Syria in order to remain entirely independent of all political positioning around the crisis.
MSF is also working in the neighbouring countries: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey where some 1.5 million Syrians have fled. These countries have been overwhelmed by the influx of refugees and the humanitarian response has so far been unable to meet their needs.
http://www.msf.org/article/syria-overview-msf-programmes-and-around-country
And…
U.S. Is Said to Plan to Send Weapons to Syrian Rebels
By Mark Mazzetti, Michael R. Gordon and Mark Landler
The New York Times, June 13, 2013
The Obama administration, concluding that the troops of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria have used chemical weapons against rebel forces in his countryās civil war, has decided to begin supplying the rebels for the first time with small arms and ammunition, according to American officials.
Supplying weapons to the rebels has been a long-sought goal of advocates of a more aggressive American response to the Syrian civil war.
But even with the decision to supply lethal aid, the Obama administration remains deeply divided about whether to take more forceful action to try to quell the fighting, which has killed more than 90,000 people over more than two years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/world/middleeast/syria-chemical-weapons.html
New York Times Reader Comment:
Don McCanne
San Juan Capistrano, CA
They have a tragic conflagration over there and we’re helping by pouring more gasoline on it?
Is “Peace on Earth” only for Christmas cards?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/world/middleeast/syria-chemical-weapons.html?comments#permid=425
Comment:
By Don McCanne, M.D.
Syria needs their Mahatma Gandhi – someone who will be an inspiration for non-violence and civil rights.
And single payer for Syria? We can’t even get single payer in the United States. Perhaps we need our own Mahatma Gandhi.