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Al-Khansaa Maternity Hospital in Mosul in 2017, after a repaired section was reopened. Ivor Prickett for The New York Times

I started training to be a doctor in the aftermath of the gulf war. It was a dark time to commit to a career of healing. U.S. sanctions and relentless bombings had decimated our medical infrastructure and endangered our access to medical supplies. Surrounded by devastation, we fought to heal, to operate, to comfort — often with the barest of resources. Every day was a battle in itself, trying to save lives as our facilities crumbled around us.

The U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 pushed a teetering health care system to the brink. Bombings and counterinsurgency operations relentlessly flooded hospitals with injured civilians.…  Seguir leyendo »

The world is failing a generation of Iraqi kids

Iraqi children have been the victims of the country’s dire political situation even before the start of the war led by the United States. The negative effects on children started with the harsh United Nations sanctions against the regime of Saddam Hussein and were considerably aggravated by the war, whose consequences are still felt.

Even now, hardly a week passes in Iraq without violence leaving both children and adults with permanent physical and mental scars. Experts such as Dr. Haithi al-Sady from the Psychological Research Center at Baghdad University have warned of the high number of children suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).…  Seguir leyendo »

Awaiting a doctor in the Hamam al-Alil refugee camp, near Mosul, in April. Credit Carl Court/Getty Images

Military planes have been flying low over our hospital. I have been working in Hamam al-Alil, about 15 miles from Mosul, at a Doctors Without Borders trauma hospital. The Islamic State’s last holdout is now a small area of Mosul’s Old City, and the battle to recapture it is reportedly in its final moments.

The roar of the military planes triggers painful flashbacks for one of our patients, Hamza, a 10-year-old boy from a Mosul neighborhood that had been controlled by the Islamic State from 2014 until very recently, when the coalition forces retook most of the city. In May, he watched his father burn alive in an airstrike over their neighborhood.…  Seguir leyendo »

A food factory hit by a Saudi-led coalition, killing workers and destroying the building in Sanaa, Yemen, last week. Mohammed Huwais/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

In the span of four days earlier this month, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen bombed a Doctors Without Borders-supported hospital, killing 19 people; a school, where 10 children, some as young as 8, died; and a vital bridge over which United Nations food supplies traveled, punishing millions.

In a war that has seen reports of human rights violations committed by every side, these three attacks stand out. But the Obama administration says these strikes, like previous ones that killed thousands of civilians since last March, will have no effect on the American support that is crucial for Saudi Arabia’s air war.…  Seguir leyendo »

Two faces of the Syria tragedy

The look in his eyes is hypnotic.

Five-year-old Omran Daqneesh, his face covered in dust and blood, sits quietly in the orange chair of the ambulance, his tiny bare feet barely dangling over the edge. Photographers snapped the picture after rescue workers pulled Omran from of a collapsing building in the city of Aleppo, in Syria, after it was hit by a Syrian government or Russian airstrike.

The picture has spread at lightning speed across social media, making him a symbol of the relentless suffering being experienced at this very moment by millions of Syrian civilians, including countless women and children.…  Seguir leyendo »

Rebels in Aleppo say they have broken the siege of the city, but have yet to establish a secure route for civilians. Government forces under President Bashar al-Assad deny they have been pushed out of the city. The battle for Aleppo may mark a military turning point, but for Aleppo's remaining residents, it marks only an intensification of a misery that seems to go unheeded by the international community.

No one is coming to save the Syrians. If President Obama did not act in 2013 after the chemical attacks in Ghouta, where children died of asphyxiation, testing his "red line", then he surely will not act now after footage of chemical attacks two weeks ago in Idlib showed fighters, allegedly poisoned by Assad's chlorine, gasping for breath.…  Seguir leyendo »

L’emploi d’armes explosives, dont certaines sont interdites par des traités internationaux, a significativement augmenté ces quatre dernières années. Ces armes explosives sont utilisées en zones peuplées dans la majorité des conflits actuels, par les forces du gouvernement ou des acteurs non gouvernementaux, avec des exemples récents en Syrie, à Gaza, au Yémen ou en Ukraine. Le recours massif à ces armes, y compris les mines antipersonnel et les bombes à sous-munitions, dans les zones urbaines montre une absence totale de considération pour la vie des civils.

La zone d’impact de ces armes peut aller de quelques mètres à plusieurs centaines de mètres autour de l’explosion.…  Seguir leyendo »

El secretario general de Naciones Unidas, Ban Ki-moon, nos ha convocado a la I Cumbre Humanitaria mundial. Estamos llamados a dar respuesta a las crisis humanitarias que asolan buena parte del planeta. Más de 125 millones de personas están necesitadas de asistencia y protección urgente y más de 60 millones han sido desplazadas de sus hogares como consecuencia de guerras como las de Siria o Yemen o de catástrofes como el terremoto de Ecuador.

No se trata de situaciones esporádicas sino de crisis estructurales. Somos conscientes de que la comunidad humanitaria está al límite de su capacidad de respuesta. Tan solo en Siria, desde 2011, han muerto más de 280.000 personas, son 6,5 millones los desplazados internos y hay más de cuatro millones de refugiados.…  Seguir leyendo »

The grainy, stuttering CCTV images are haunting. Dr Mohammed Maaz, the last pediatrician working in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, diligently going about his work, in the face of unimaginable pressure. The footage is then engulfed by a cloud of dust and debris, as the Al Quds hospital is hit by an airstrike. At least 50 died, 60 more were injured. Dr Maaz perished along with his colleagues and patients.

Dr. Maaz was the last known pediatrician left in rebel-held Aleppo. The children of that city are now left more vulnerable than ever before. It is lamentable that in Syria, the World Health Organisation reports that 57% of public hospitals and 51% of public health clinics have been closed.…  Seguir leyendo »

En Alepo nos estamos quedando sin ataúdes

A finales de abril, aviones sirios o rusos bombardearon el hospital Al Quds, en la parte este de la ciudad dividida de Alepo. Al menos 50 personas murieron y otras 80 resultaron heridas.

Entre los muertos por el ataque estuvo mi querido amigo y colega, el Dr. Muhammad Wassim Mo’az, un ser humano cálido que se preocupaba mucho por sus pacientes y su comunidad. Dormía en el hospital por si hubiera una emergencia y tuviera que correr a atender a los bebés y los niños. Era el último pediatra en Alepo.

Otro amigo, el Dr. Mohammed Ahmad, también murió por los ataques aéreos.…  Seguir leyendo »

In Aleppo, We Are Running Out of Coffins

Last week, Syrian or Russian jets bombed Al Quds hospital, in the eastern part of the divided city of Aleppo. At least 50 people lost their lives, and some 80 more were injured.

Among those killed in the attack was my dear friend and colleague, Dr. Muhammad Wassim Mo’az, a kind man who cared deeply for his patients and his community. He slept in the hospital in case there was an emergency and he had to rush to treat babies and children. He was the last pediatrician in Aleppo.

Another friend, Dr. Mohammed Ahmad, was also killed in the airstrikes. Dr.…  Seguir leyendo »

Crímenes de guerra y daños colaterales

La matanza de 22 médicos y pacientes en un hospital de Afganistán a principios del pasado mes de octubre por los bombardeos de Estados Unidos ha despertado, con razón, indignación y protestas en todo el mundo civilizado. El hecho de que el comando militar responsable emitiera cuatro historias diferentes en un intento de exculparse dio lugar a más indignación aún. La ONG Médicos Sin Fronteras (MSF), que dirigía el hospital, denunció el acto como un delito y exigió una investigación. Uno de los fundadores de MSF, Bernard Kouchner, declaró: "Lo que ocurrió es una violación de los derechos humanos básicos. Fue un acto contra el derecho humanitario e internacional, en completa contradicción con las convenciones de Ginebra.…  Seguir leyendo »

L'hôpital de Médecins sans frontières de Kunduz en flamme suite au bombardement de l'armée américaine, le 3 octobre 2015. AFP

Le 3 octobre, l’hôpital de Médecins sans frontières de Kunduz a été bombardé par l’armée américaine pendant les opérations pour reprendre la ville aux Taliban. Les derniers décomptes indiquent une vingtaine de morts - humanitaires et malades, y compris des enfants - et des dizaines de blessés graves. L’hôpital est désormais fermé, MSF ne pouvant plus garantir la sécurité de ses installations, ce qui prive les blessés de la seule antenne chirurgicale efficace dans la région. Il s’agit par ailleurs d’un des incidents les plus meurtriers pour l’ONG, tous terrains confondus, depuis des décennies. Les bombardements américains résultent-ils d’une erreur due au fog of war, incident tragique mais excusable étant donné la confusion inhérente aux combats urbains ?…  Seguir leyendo »

A child in Aleppo, Syria, is asked to draw a picture at school.

He paints a world on fire: helicopters dropping bombs, a house collapsing into rubble. He draws himself, crying on his knees, surrounded by his friends -- dead, dismembered, decapitated, and bleeding.

This is the type of sad reality that we have seen far too often as physicians working inside Syrian field hospitals -- children across the country living in hell. It is time to act if we are to prevent such heartrending scenes being played endlessly into the future.

Every day we were in Syria we saw innocent people suffering and dying in abysmal conditions.…  Seguir leyendo »

It seems apt that the Blackwater security contractors convicted of killing 14 unarmed civilians on an Iraqi street in 2007 were condemned to lengthy sentences this week. I couldn’t help but think of Marla Ruzicka, once the world’s loudest voice calling attention to the plight of innocent victims of conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq. It was ten years ago this week, on April 16, 2005, that she was silenced when a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle next to hers on Baghdad’s Airport Road, turning her into another civilian casualty of war while on her way to seek help for others caught in the crossfire.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Carnage of Barrel Bombs in Syria

Marwan was on the operating table when the lights blinked and fizzled out. I turned on the headlamp I wear for situations like these, but it flickered, indicating low batteries. The nurse to my left pulled her cellphone from her pocket and turned it on, creating the only light in the pitch-black basement. Others in the room followed suit with their phones, shining the devices at the wound and producing just enough light to allow me to finish repairing the little boy’s broken body.

Marwan had arrived at my field hospital, which was built underground to avoid bombardment, after losing his mother, sister and both of his legs in a barrel bomb attack late last year.…  Seguir leyendo »

The rubble of destroyed houses in the Shejaia district of Gaza, which witnesses said was heavily hit by Israeli shelling on 26 July 2014. Photograph: Abed Rahim Khatib/NurPhoto/Corbis

In July 2002 the Israeli air force dropped a one-tonne bomb on the home of Salah Shehadeh, the head of the military wing of Hamas, in Gaza. You don’t have to be an expert in air combat to imagine what’s left of a home hit by a one-tonne bomb. Not much. That bomb killed not only Shehadeh, but also 14 civilians, including eight children.

At that time I served as an operations officer in the Israeli air force. Like many of my friends, I found myself carrying the burden of immense responsibility at the ripe age of 20. I was responsible for relaying commands and intelligence from headquarters to pilots, preparing aircraft for operations and providing support to pilots throughout.…  Seguir leyendo »

President Obama's failure to get Congress to support airstrikes in Syria, coupled with the vote against military action in the British House of Commons, brings home a key fact about international politics: when given a choice, democratic peoples are reluctant to authorize their leaders to use force to protect civilians in countries far away.

In 2001, the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, on which I served, developed the idea that all states, but especially democracies, have a “responsibility to protect” civilians when they are threatened with mass killing. For those of us who have worked hard to promote this concept, it’s obvious that our idea is facing a crisis of democratic legitimacy.…  Seguir leyendo »

I watch a heartbreaking video of a Syrian father reunited with his toddler son, whom he believes had been killed by the latest chemical attack on civilians in a war whose brutality is relentless. He is on his knees, crying without stop, when he found out that his son was alive. He was luckier than many other fathers, whose children lie covered by ice in the Damascus morgue. According to Syrian activists, as many as 1,300 people, many of them children, were killed in a rocket strike carrying chemical weapons in a residential Damascus suburb.

U.N. agencies estimate that one million children, three-quarters of them under age 11, have had to flee their country since the conflict began in 2011.…  Seguir leyendo »

La protección de civiles desarmados en situaciones de conflicto es un desafío de orden moral y diplomático. Inocentes muertos, heridos o desabrigados no pueden ser tratados como meros “efectos colaterales”.

Este tema exige que la comunidad internacional asuma su responsabilidad colectiva. La importancia cada vez mayor del tema llevó a la presidencia surcoreana de turno del Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU a realizar un debate el 12 de febrero, en el cual participé. Debemos tener presente que la prevención de conflictos es la mejor manera para garantizar la protección de civiles. Mucho se habla sobre la situación de desprotección en que algunos gobiernos dejan a su pueblo, algo inaceptable.…  Seguir leyendo »