Syrian children, victims of the foreign-backed terrorism

From the very beginning of crisis in Syria, Syrian children have been victims of the vandalism and sabotage acts carried out by the armed terrorist groups in various Syrian areas. Two million children have become the victims of the terrorist acts carried out by the armed terrorists who came from various parts of the world to destroy Syria and commit atrocious massacres against its people and children.

Many children are increasingly being used by the armed terrorist groups as human shields and porters. Others are suffering from malnutrition and various kinds of diseases because of the tight siege and vandalism acts carried out by terrorists against public utilities including hospitals and health centres. Almost one in three children has been hit, kicked or shot at by the armed groups. For millions of Syrian children, the innocence of childhood has been replaced by the cruel realities created by the armed terrorist groups in the areas they controlled. Many are now living rough difficult life, struggling to find something to eat, without the right medicine if they become sick or injured because of the terrorist acts that terrified most Syrians and displaced them.

 Hunger, homelessness and terror have replaced school for many children, because many schools were occupied by some of al-Qa’eda linked terrorist groups. Thousands are living in barns, parks and caves and are unable to go to school because the armed groups have changed these schools into positions and stationed there. Young boys are also being used by armed groups as porters, runners and human shields, endangering their lives.

One of the most atrocious crimes practised by the armed terrorist groups against Syrian children is the recurrent throwing of mortars against schools and public places. The random mortars launched at the Syrian cities have become one of the preferred methods for the terrorist groups to kill innocent children, especially in Damascus city which proved invulnerable for the terrorist groups, that’s why they are showering Damascus and its countryside, especially Jaramana city, with scores of mortar rounds to spread panic and kill as many citizens as possible.

School buildings were bombed, teachers came under violent attacks. The classroom should be a place of safety and security, not battlegrounds where children suffer from the most awful crimes committed by terrorists. More than two years and a half of foreign-sponsored terrorism in the country has damaged more than 9,000 state buildings and cost more than $15 billion in losses to the public sector.

The armed groups targeted school infrastructure, limiting education opportunities for children across the country. Over 4,000 schools, or one in five are either damaged or destroyed. Children and their schools are bearing the brunt of the indiscriminate acts of terrorism which were pre-planned by the US and its regional and Arab tools to destroy Syria and implement the American-Zionist project in the region.

 The current month witnessed a series of horrible terrorist attacks against students and their schools with the aim of terrifying students and stopping the educational process. On November 11, four children and a bus driver have been killed and four children and two superintendents injured after mortar rounds launched by terrorists hit a school bus outside a school in Bab Sharqi area in Damascus. On the same day, John of Damascus School in al-Qasaa neighbourhood came under a similar mortar attack, with a mortar round slamming into a school, killing five children and wounding 35 others under the age of 10.

Earlier, the terrorists killed a father and his three sons in a mortar attack on their car in Jaramana city in Damascus countryside.

In Aleppo, Four children were killed and six citizens wounded when a mortar shell fell on al-Ashrafieh area.  These crimes are consistent with the acts of terrorists, who want the wheel of life to halt in Syria. These savage crimes committed by the terrorist groups are intended to stop the educational process in Syria through planting explosive devices in schools and replacing the Syrian curricula with a form of education that had prevailed before the emergence of the modern educational system and teaching distorted al-Qaeda-type religious studies that disseminate the seeds of extremism and terrorism.

Furthermore, the terrorists groups prevented the vaccination campaigns in the areas under their control, with the result of polio spreading again in Deir Ezzor city, after Syria has succeeded in conquering it 20 years ago.

These brutal acts against children and their families should push the international community to shoulder its responsibilities to hold to account the countries backing terrorism in Syria, and holding them responsible for the savage atrocities committed and for their overt support for terrorism at a time when these countries claim to be fighting the same groups elsewhere around the world. Saudi Arabia claims to be fighting terrorism, but in Syria it allocated huge funds to support al-Qa’eda linked terrorist groups fighting on the Syrian territories and providing them with sophisticated weapons to kill Syrian people and destroy their country. Bandar, the Saudi intelligence chief, is planning and leading the terrorist operations himself and hold periodic meetings with leaders of the armed groups in Amman to direct them to commit more massacres against Syrian people and their public and private properties.

Teaching was suspended several times for days and sometimes for weeks in a number of targeted schools to protect children from the terrorist attacks, which has a negative impact on the educational process and deprives children of a basic human right, namely the right to education.

The Syrian children remain prone to numerous forms of crimes, including the recruitment of children, training them to kill, abductions for blackmailing their families, killing and mutilation at the hands of terrorist groups.

The international community should not allow the thwarting of the UNSC efforts for issuing a clear condemnation of terrorist groups and the countries backing them, especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and take the necessary measures to dry out the sources of terrorism.

Even the children in the displaced camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey were subjected to several kinds of oppression. The violations committed against children are very grave, particularly as children are being recruited and used as human shields by the armed terrorist groups, which is a flagrant violation of the UN Security Council resolution No. 1612 on the rights of the child.

The violations of the rights of the child at the displaced camps in the neighbouring countries are still taking place until now and the authorities concerned are standing still in spite of the UN report which referred to these gross violations.

The report of the UN which mentioned that Syrian children at the camps in the neighbouring countries are being recruited in the so-called brigade “Toyor al-Janneh brigade” (Birds of Heavens) is a clear and frank confession by the UN that the international resolutions and conventions which prohibit the recruitment of children are being violated by the armed terrorist groups supported by the princes of Al-Saud, Qatar and Turkey. The Syrian government is working in various ways and negotiating with UN bodies to cut down on these violations which are taking place at the camps.

The Ministry of social Affairs is working to establish care centers for the children who were recruited in the fighting, as they are victims and need for care and rehabilitation programmes. The ministry of education also prepared intensive curricula for the displaced students who couldn’t attend schools last year because the terrorists occupied their schools. Some have been disabled, mutilated, sexually abused and tortured in detention centres created by the armed terrorist groups.

Despite extraordinary challenges created by the armed terrorist groups, the Syrian Ministry of education has prepared remedial education and recreation activities for children. In cooperation with the UNICEF, the Ministry of Education is running hundreds of school clubs around the country. The school clubs provide an opportunity for children aged 5-18 to participate in remedial classes and benefit from psychosocial support through recreational activities such as sports and music under the care of qualified teachers and counsellors. The Ministry of Education and the sector partners, has established more than 830 school clubs to enable 287,000 children to access remedial catch-up classes and recreational activities in 11 of Syria’s 14 governorates.

The Ministry of Education also kept schools open during the recent summer holidays.  About 122 schools in 9 governorates remained open between July-August. This meant that children could access remedial classes based on the national curriculum covering four basic subjects: Arabic, Math, Science, and English. This initiative helped children, especially those who have missed out on education, go back to school and keep on learning in the current school year. The Ministry of Education also allowed all children, especially those who missed out on education, to take the extra round of exams before the new academic year.

The terrorist acts will not dissuade Syrians from encouraging their children to continue their studies. The bloods of Syria’s martyrs will make the homeland immune to all challenges. The Syrians will remain united and Syria will remain firm against all the conspiracies and challenges.

All Syrian people including children are praying to God Almighty to eliminate these armed groups at the hands of the valiant Syrian armed forces to restore the innocence of childhood and security and stability to the whole country.

K.Q.