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Syria

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This working group is focused on discussions about Syria.

The mission of this working group is to focus on discussions about Syria.

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mdmcdonald Norea

Email address for group

syria@m.resiliencesystem.org

Syria War: At Least 70 Killed in Suspected Chemical Attack in Douma

           

Smoke rose from Douma, the last rebel holdout in the suburbs around Damascus, on Saturday, after an attack by government forces. Activists reported that poison gas was used in the assault.  Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

CLICK HERE - UK - Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) - statement on reports of a chemical weapons attack in Syria

reuters.com - April 7, 2018

A chemical attack on a rebel-held town in eastern Ghouta has killed dozens of people, medical services reported, and Washington said the reports - if confirmed - would demand an immediate international response.

A joint statement by the medical relief organization Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) and the civil defense service, which operates in rebel-held areas, said 49 people had died in the attack late on Saturday. Others put the toll at 150 or more.

The Russian-backed Syrian state denied government forces had launched any chemical attack as the reports began circulating and said the rebels were collapsing and fabricating news.

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How a Seed Bank, Almost Lost in Syria’s War, Could Help Feed a Warming Planet

Ali Shehadeh, a plant conservationist from Syria who fled the war in his country, at work in Terbol, Lebanon. Credit Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

Image: Ali Shehadeh, a plant conservationist from Syria who fled the war in his country, at work in Terbol, Lebanon. Credit Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

nytimes.com - Somini Sengupta - October 13th 2017

Ali Shehadeh, a seed hunter, opened the folders with the greatest of care. Inside each was a carefully dried and pressed seed pod: a sweet clover from Egypt, a wild wheat found only in northern Syria, an ancient variety of bread wheat. He had thousands of these folders stacked neatly in a windowless office, a precious herbarium, containing seeds foraged from across the hot, arid and increasingly inhospitable region known as the Fertile Crescent, the birthplace of farming.

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Polio Update: More cVDPV2 Reported in Syria, DRC

           

CLICK HERE - GPEI - THIS WEEK - Polio this week as of 9 August 2017

outbreaknewstoday.com - August 12, 2017

Additional cases of type 2 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV2) have been reported recently in both Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) this week.

Syria

Three new cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) were officially confirmed at WHO headquarters in the past week, bringing the total number of cases in this outbreak to 30. Onset of paralysis of these cases is between 3 March and 16 June. Twenty-nine of the cases are from Mayadeen district, Deir Ez-Zour governorate, and one case is from Talabyad district, Raqqa governorate.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Attacks in Syria and Yemen are Turning Disease Into a Weapon of War

           

A cholera-infected man receives treatment at a hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, in May.  HANI MOHAMMED/AP

statnews.com - by Homer Venters - July 7, 2017

 . . . Today we are seeing another cruel method of warfare emerge on the battlefield: the weaponization of disease, particularly in Syria and Yemen.

Targeting health care facilities during conflict has occurred before. But unlike the attacks on hospital ships during World War I, or even sporadic attacks in more recent conflicts, the pace of attacks on health facilities, workers, and resources in Syria and Yemen is massive and unrelenting . . . 

 . . . We must not make the mistake of thinking of these deaths and illnesses as collateral damage of war. They are not accidental, and the destruction of medical and sanitation infrastructure is part of a cruel, illegal, and intentional strategy . .

 . . . there must be independent investigations of violations of international law when it comes to targeting health and humanitarian resources . . .

 . . . Hundreds of thousands have already died in Syria and Yemen. And without accountability and clear condemnation from the international community, millions more lives are at stake.

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POLIOMYELITIS UPDATE (06): SYRIA (DEIR AL ZOUR), CIRCULATING VACCINE DERIVED POLIOVIRUS SUSPECTED

promedmail.org - 12 May 2017

The current information is that there is a cluster of 23 AFP [acute flaccid paralysis] cases in Miadin district, with one of the specimens having a possible vaccine derived poliovirus (VDPV). Samples were sent to Atlanta for further testing.

A concern is that the VDPV is a cVDPV [circulating vaccine derived poliovirus] which is now considered to be just like a wild polio. (The virus is a type 2 virus).

The investigation will reveal the status of this case and the hope is that it will be ambiguous or perhaps in an immune deficient individual.

(CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

CLICK HERE - ProMED mail - Updates

ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE WITHIN THE LINK BELOW . . .

CLICK HERE - Suspected polio cases found in Islamic State-controlled area of eastern Syria

 

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UK Scientists: Samples from Syrian Attack Test Positive for Sarin

           

A crater is seen at the site of an airstrike, after what rescue workers described as a suspected gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib, Syria April 4, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah

reuters.com - reporting by Anthony Deutsch; editing by Janet Lawrence - April 13, 2017

Samples taken from the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria last week tested positive for the nerve agent sarin, the British delegation at the world's chemical weapons watchdog said on Thursday.

"UK scientists have analyzed samples taken from Khan Sheikhoun. These have tested positive for the nerve agent sarin, or a sarin-like substance," the delegation said during a special session at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague.

Earlier testing by Turkish authorities had also said the chemical used on April 4 was sarin.

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CLICK HERE - UK - Foreign & Commonwealth Office and Sir Geoffrey Adams - Speech - 54th Special Session of the Executive Council - April 13, 2017

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Aleppo Battle: Calls to Spare Lives as Fighting Nears End

           

There are very few medical facilities for people in the rebel-held area.  Reuters

The UN and Red Cross have appealed for civilians to be protected, as fighting in Syria's Aleppo nears its end.

bbc.com - December 13, 2016

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said people had "literally nowhere safe to run".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon voiced alarm "over reports of atrocities against a large number of civilians".

Thousands of people are trapped in just a handful of rebel-held districts, which are facing intense bombardment as government troops advance.

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ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE - Syrian forces push Aleppo rebels to brink as city nears ‘total collapse’

 

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Syria Bombings Leave 1.75 Million Without Running Water in Aleppo

           

People inspect a water-filled hole at the site of an airstrike on the rebel-held Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood of Aleppo. Photograph: Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters

Unicef says children at risk of outbreaks of waterborne diseases after two pumping stations left out of action

theguardian.com - September 24, 2016

Heavy bombardment of the rebel-held eastern area of Aleppo has left about 1.75 million people without running water, the United Nations has said.

Intense attacks on Friday prevented repairs to the city’s damaged Bab al-Nayrab pumping station, which supplies water to 250,000 people in the eastern parts of the city, according to the UN’s children’s agency, Unicef. 

In retaliation, the nearby Suleiman al-Halabi station, which pumps water to 1.5 million people in the west of Aleppo, was switched off, it said.

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UN Suspends All Aid Convoy Movements in Syria After Airstrike

           

Aid is strewn across the floor in Urem al-Kubra, on the western outskirts of Aleppo, after Monday’s strike on a convoy of lorries. Photograph: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images

Red Cross president says attack on UN and Red Crescent convoy delivering supplies is unacceptable violation of international law

theguardian.com - by Haroon Siddique, Julian Borger and agencies - September 20, 2016

The United Nations has suspended aid convoys in Syria after an airstrike hit a fleet of trucks carrying food to a rebel-held area near Aleppo on Monday.

The UN humanitarian aid spokesman Jens Laerke said: “As an immediate security measure, other convoy movements in Syria have been suspended for the time being, pending further assessment of the security situation.” . . .

. . . The strike on a convoy of Syrian Red Crescent trucks carrying UN-supplied food was described by the International Committee of the Red Cross as a flagrant violation of international law. It took place as a week-old ceasefire brokered by Russia and the US collapsed amid a surge of Syrian government bombing.

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Eating Leaves, and Other Ways Besieged Syrians Try to Survive

nytimes.com - March 8th 2016 - Rick Gladstone

Medical workers in parts of Syria have been forced to let the wounded bleed to death for lack of bandages, and have opted to use catheter bags meant for urine to administer intravenous fluids to newborns because proper drip bags are gone.

Expectant mothers in areas vulnerable to shelling and bombing give birth by cesarean section rather than risk natural childbirth in an attack. Malnourished children are eating animal feed and leaves, in some cases only miles from warehouses full of food.

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