British humanitarian worker in Syria ‘ashamed’ of Western silence on Idlib

In an article for the Daily Telegraph, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, director of Doctors Under Fire, wrote that the regime had used barrel bombs on marketplaces and other civilian areas.

Internally displaced Syrians from western Aleppo countryside, ride on a vehicle with belongings in Hazano near Idlib, Syria, February 11, 2020.
Reuters

Internally displaced Syrians from western Aleppo countryside, ride on a vehicle with belongings in Hazano near Idlib, Syria, February 11, 2020.

A British aid worker advising Syrian medical teams on the ground in Idlib has condemned western states for their inaction as regime forces assault the rebel-held province.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon wrote an editorial for the British Telegraph, entitled “Speaking from the trenches, the West should be ashamed of its absence in Syria.”

The former soldier is now a humanitarian worker who serves as the director of Doctors Under Fire, a group that provides support to Syrian medical workers who are working within line of fire.

“Western nations, including the UK have been completely unwilling to intervene to save civilian lives in Syria,” de Bretton-Gordon wrote, adding: “As the world is prepared to move heaven and earth to contain the coronavirus, it shows no appetite to save potentially tens of thousands of civilians in Syria.”

The human rights worker further commended Turkey for stopping barrel bomb attacks by regime helicopters.

Idlib is home to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Syrians who have fled other parts of Syria due to regime attacks of persecution.

More than 800,000 have fled Idlib since the regime upped its campaign to take back the province from Syrian opposition forces.

Following the modus operandi established in its campaigns in other areas of Syria, Assad fighters backed by Assad warplanes, the Russian air force and Iranian militias.  

The one international force that stands in their way is the Turkish Army, which has observation posts in the area and backs the Free Syrian Army militarily and strategically.

Over the course of the nine-year-long war, more than 500,000 people have been killed, many of them women and children.

In addition to the death toll, more than six million people have fled Syria and another five million have been internally displaced.

After an initial period in which many western states demanded the removal of Assad, many now have quietened that demand, paving the way for his eventual rehabilitation.

Route 6