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Syria: Multiple direct and indirect hits on hospitals in east Aleppo in the last 48 hours

The only specialised paediatric hospital in besieged east Aleppo has come under attack for the second time since airstrikes resumed on 15 November, destroying three floors and leaving it out of service. Three other hospitals have also taken direct hits, resulting in casualties among staff and patients and leaving two key surgical hospitals and the largest general hospital out of service.

“This is a dark day for east Aleppo. The severity of the bombing has inflicted huge damage on the few hospitals working around the clock to provide medical care,” says Teresa Sancristoval, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) emergency coordinator. “The attacks have destroyed entire hospitals, electric generators, emergency rooms and wards, forcing them to stop all medical activities. It is not only MSF that condemns indiscriminate attacks on civilians or civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, but also humanitarian law. The message is simple and I don´t know how to say it any louder: stop bombing hospitals.”

“The children’s hospital has sustained damage for a second time from airstrikes,” says Luis Montial, MSF deputy head of mission for Syria. “This is the only hospital exclusively for children in the besieged area and it is now out of action. The consequences of indiscriminate bombing are very clear: more lives lost, medical services depleted and insurmountable suffering for people trapped by the siege. What is not clear is how much longer the health system, already on its knees, can carry on functioning unless the bombing stops and medical supplies are allowed in.”

East Aleppo’s hospitals have been hit by bombs in more than 30 separate attacks since the siege started in July. All of east Aleppo’s hospitals are supported by MSF, among other organisations.

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Multiple direct and indirect hits on hospitals in east Aleppo in the last 48 hours

The only specialised paediatric hospital in besieged east Aleppo has come under attack for the second time since airstrikes resumed on 15 November, destroying three floors and leaving it out of service. Three other hospitals have also taken direct hits, resulting in casualties among staff and patients and leaving two key surgical hospitals and the largest general hospital out of service.

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I thought - according to other western sources - there were no more functioning hospitals in east Aleppo?

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Some of the heaviest bombardment so far on Aleppo has left rebel-held parts of the Syrian city virtually without medical facilities, observers say.

The World Health Organization says all makeshift hospitals there are out of service, after five days of air and artillery strikes by government forces.

...

Medics have in the past been able to bring field hospitals back into operation after strikes, but the lack of supplies is now so severe that this is becoming harder, Reuters news agency reports.

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The Syrian Network for Human Rights (not to be confused with SOHR) is one of the most cited and prominient organizations documenting SCW casualties and human rights violations. Sadly, "cited and prominient" doesn't mean "credible".

SNHR has published their methodology on how they document deaths. This methodology is, in my opinion, deeply flawed and here I will explain why.

Methodology

Well, here is their methodology. It consists of three steps. At the first step, they gather reports from activists on the ground. At the second, their documentation team checks that reports are not repeated and match related news. If I understood them correctly, they try to get at least two reports for each death. The third step is just filing into database. There is a fourth step, but it's just a part of the third.

I'm sure you all see the main problem with this methodology: there is no verification. They get a report or two saying that "this civilian man died to a barrel bomb", and they file him as a civilian victim of government. Even if he was a victim of Ahrar vs YPG clash and died to grenade misfire while trying to blast some Kurds, for example.

Another obvious problem is an activist distribution. Some areas have higher reporting activity, some lower. As their activists are mainly in rebel-held areas (well, most likely. SNHR gives no info on activists distribution at all, a sin to the sacred art of statistics), the bias follows.

SNHR flat out refuses to accept any information from government or state media. While not entirely unjustified, this is still cherry picking as they have no reason to not file someone just because he was reported by SANA instead of their activists. If SANA presents name and photos just as their activists do (well, they present a reason not to, but it was just one mistake and one mistake is not a good reason to exclude the whole group of sources entirely).

Strange numbers
03.11 - 10.15:
"Civilians killed by regime: 180879, children killed by regime: 18851
SNHR explicitly states that women and children casualty rate indicates deliberate targeting civilians. But here we see that ~10% of civilians casualties are children. They don't state women rate, but going by their other reports, it's even lower. So it's 20% women and children at max.

[For a comparison to non-Syrian casualties ...] According to Iraq Body Count, women and children accounted for almost 20% of all civilian deaths in 2003-2005. This report doesn't say what was women and children casualty rate of US forces strikes, but it does say that "children were disproportionately affected by all explosive devices but most severely by air strikes and unexploded ordnance (including cluster bomblets)", so I assume that it was about the same. ... by using SNHR methodology, US forces "deliberately targeted civilians", which is, most likely, not true. Also, in pre-war Syria, women and children contributed to about 65% of population - just another fact to think about.

Death under torture by: ISIS - 22, Rebels - 15, Nusra - 12
Really? They are Daesh, al-Quaeda and a bunch of groups including JaI and AaS.
November 2015:
RuAF: 259 civilians, 7 gunmen
Coalition AF: 13 civilians, 0 gunmen
Kurdish Self Management Forces (YPG?): 17 civilians, 0 gunmen

SNHR isn't even trying, is it?

Presentation
SNHR often presents percentages of people killed by different groups. While impressive, that's the only thing good about these percentages: statistically, they are meaningless. The side that fights more and for a longer period of time kills more on the average, so to measure "ruthlessness" one have to weight numbers before arranging figures. I can think of a few ways to weight them. One, for example, is to measure civilians killed per fighter killed (interestingly, by using this method, the government forces are the most "good". It doesn't mean anything, of course, as the SNHR numbers themselves are too flawed).

Miscellaneous notes
Notable that United Nations had adopted on SNHR as primary source in all the statistics of analyzing Syrian conflict's victims.

Actually, according to this article, UN stopped using them as a source at all, as UN has stopped updating the death toll from Syrian civil war. It says it can no longer verify the sources of information.

SNHR isn't involved with any political activity
And yet in every report they have a "Recommendations to Security Council" part, and they write this part on their own accord. If that's not political activity, I don't know what is.

As English is my second language, I probably made a lot of grammar mistakes and, more importantly, used incorrect terms. Please feel free to correct me, both on those and if you see a real mistake. This post is subject to updates.

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It's not Assad or the Russians who are keeping people inside of eastern Aleppo, KRAPO. It's the terrorists, whom I have quoted here, doing that all on their own.

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So first of all, I take news from east Aleppo with a HUGE dose of salt.

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But don't take my word for it, here is someone who has looked at their methodology closely

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the SOHR (a one-man band funded by George Soros with equal lack of on-the-ground Syrian contacts).

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Aaaaand ... you're quoting the NYT. The one that had to write a mea culpa for crappy reporting not two weeks ago.

You're both too stupid to be believed.

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SIG, you are chastising others for using the New York Times as a source? That's precious coming from someone whos favorite source is zerohedge where they post anonymously. Are you really so stupid as to believe, that those who follow these threads give you any credibility on the issue of sourcing? You, the queen of FAKE NEWS?
____________________________________________

Russia trolls get contract extension
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=60719

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...

Sonia Khush, Syria Director for Save the Children said, “It was barely possible to imagine that the situation in Aleppo could become any worse, and yet the scenes we have seen over the weekend have been truly horrifying: Packed emergency rooms, children who appear to have inhaled chlorine gas struggling to breathe, confused and separated from their families, premature babies being rescued from damaged incubators and taken into smoke filled rooms as hospitals come under attack. Ambulances and mobile health units will do what they can to treat people when they are not being targeted themselves, but these only have room for a few patients and not nearly enough equipment to treat the range of injuries they are seeing.”

...

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Aaaaand ... you're quoting the NYT. The one that had to write a mea culpa for crappy reporting not two weeks ago.

You're both too stupid to be believed.

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Well, I'm sorry for you that you can't answer a relevant question about your own topic

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and are reduced to making your post entirely personal.

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Because, to reiterate, there have been multiple 'last hospitals' destroyed in E Aleppo.

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and all but one, the REAL 'last hospital', MUST be fabricated propaganda

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The one complaint you can have about the media's reporting on this issue, and it's the only one, is the use of the word "destroyed" in headlines, which makes it sound, at first reading, like the destruction is total (e.g. here - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/19/aleppo-hospitals-knocked
-out-airstrikes )

Now this article makes it very clear that the destruction of the hospitals is NOT total, i.e. they are constantly being repaired and put back into limited service (see paragraph 5) - but someone who just scans the headline might not gather that much (apparently you and Signy fall into this bracket).= KRAPO "Bombed out of operation" would be better than "destroyed" but hey, headline writers will often go with punchy wording, erring on the sensational, over dry preciseness. Want to rail against Western media and call it "fabricated propaganda" on the basis of headline wording, even though the rest of the article explains the situation clearly and accurately? Fine, have at it. But everyone knows that you and Siggy are just doing everything you can to stay blind to the gross atrocities Putin and Assad are committing - killing innocent men, women and children in the most barbaric and despicable ways, right in front of the world's eyes.

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Washington claimed that this airstrike was a “mistake” and that it was somehow meant to target ISIS near the eastern city of Deir el-Zour in Syria. It was a sustained attack that lasted for 1 hour, featuring repeated bombing runs by US, UK, Australian and Danish aircraft.

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Médecins Sans Frontières reported that between 02:08 and 03:15 local time on the night of 3 October, the organization's Kunduz hospital was struck by "a series of aerial bombing raids". The humanitarian organization said the hospital was "hit several times" in the course of the attack, and that the building was "partially destroyed". It further said the hospital had been "repeatedly & precisely hit" and that the attack had continued for 30 minutes after MSF staff contacted U.S. and Afghan officials during the strike.

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"Objective truths are established by evidence. Personal truths by faith. Political truths by incessant repetition."

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Aaaaand ... you're quoting Russian media. You're both too stupid to be believed.- KRAPO

The story of KRAPO;s involvement in this thread:

1. Enter thread to defend the West against accusations of war crimes by trashing all sources of information (including multiple foreign governments and on-the-ground reports)
2. Spread the Western state propaganda narrative
3. Get challenged to back up this narrative with credible sources
4. Throw out personal insults and flee the thread
5. Repeat
SIGNY

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I do agree that it is one of the world's greatest problems not being able to have exact counts for dead people in an active war zone ....

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Sorry, Trump propaganda outlets saying he would win just don't count= GSTRING

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WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?[that one or two strikes on a hospital indicates that hospitals are no being deliberately targeted - SIGNY]

So, that's how they're killing so many civilians! Check!= GSTRING

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The US IBT considered the emergence of ISIL in 2014 as the beginning of the end for groups like FSA which the US had dubbed “moderate rebels”. The SMC, the formal FSA command structure, slowly disintegrated within Aleppo Governorate from a lack of sources over the course of 2014. ... Abu Yusaf, a high-level commander of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), said in August 2014 that many of the FSA members who had been trained by United States’ and Turkish and Arab military officers were now actually joining ISIL. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Syrian_Army

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Syria's White Helmets apologize for Mannequin Challenge video
...The nearly one-minute long video has been the subject of criticism on social media. On Wednesday Syria Civil Defence released a statement calling it an "error of judgment".
"This video and the related posts were recorded by RFS media with Syria Civil Defence volunteers, who hoped to create a connection between the horror of Syria and the outside world using the viral 'Mannequin challenge.' This was an error of judgment, and we apologize on behalf of the volunteers involved," the statement read. http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/24/middleeast/mannequin-challenge-white-hel
mets-syria/

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Again SIG makes the point everyone in Syria is a terrorist, even the children. There's no talking with someone void of empathy and full of shit. = DOUCHBAG

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Local sources say that most of militants have fled to the Old Aleppo. So, the main work is to remove explosive devices and secure the area. Sheikh Khizir will be under the full control of government forces in the coming hours.

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Last weekend, Syrian government forces delivered a devastating blow to the al-Nusra led militant coalition, known as Jaish al-Fatah, inside the Aleppo city. The Syrian army’s Republican Guard, the Syrian army’s Tiger Forces, the Desert Hawks Brigade, Liwa al-Quds and other pro-government groups liberated the neighborhoods of Hanano, Jabal Badro and Inzarat. They also took control of the Haidariyah Youth Housing, the Ba’ideen Roundabout and the Ba’ideen Square and Ard Hamra and seized a significant part of Al-Sakhur neighborhood.

Kurdish YPG units seized positions in Bustan Basha which had been under control of Sultan Murad militant group.

On November 28, government forces liberated Handariyah and al-Shakhur neighborhoods, encircling Sheikh Khizir.

Local sources say that militants are fleeing their defenses in northeastern Aleppo.

Government forces also attacked Nusra-linked militants in the Sheikh Lufti Neighborhood and in the Marjeh Neighborhood. The most notable gain of Syrian troops in the area is the so-called “Police Hill” (420 m) in the Marjeh Neighborhood. The Police Hill is a key hilltop in Marjeh. Controlling it, the army and its allies will be able to secure the Sheikh Lufti – Marjeh axis.

From Sheikh Lufti government forces are able to pose another threat to Jaish al-Fatah militants – to reach the Aleppo Citadel, splitting the eastern Aleppo pocket into several separated parts.

Mohamad Rafe’, military operations commander of Liwa al-Quds has been killed today during operations to liberate eastern Aleppo.

The government advance allowed thousands of civilians have fled militant-held areas of Aleppo city.

About 1,700 civilians had fled to government-held parts of western Aleppo and about 2,500 to the Kurdish-controlled area of Sheikh Maksoud since the start of the operation, according to the so-called “Syrian Observatory of Human Rights”, a pro-militant ‘non-government’ organization aimed to cover the Syrian conflict.

Syrian news sources broadcasted images of a crowd of civilians including women and children gathered around green buses that are set to pick them up in Masaken Hanano and entering western Aleppo. According to them [Syrian news sources] up to 10,000 civilians have fled from eastern Aleppo so far. Most of them took refuge in government-controlled areas.

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‘Absolute chaos’ as regime advances to within 1km of cutting east Aleppo in two

AMMAN: Pro-regime forces cut through rebel frontlines in east Aleppo city and moved within one kilometer of cutting the opposition stronghold in two on Sunday, opposition military sources told Syria Direct, amidst reports of mass civilian displacement.

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The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allied militias advanced to the west from their territory east of Aleppo city on Saturday to capture the Masaken Hanano district. On Sunday, Syrian state media reported that government forces advanced further, capturing the adjacent Jabal Badro district immediately south.

At time of publication on Sunday, fierce clashes between rebel and regime forces were underway in the strategic, opposition-held a-Sakhour district adjoining Masaken Hanano and Jabal Badro to the west.

If the regime captures a-Sakhour, loyalist forces will control a critical bottleneck, isolating approximately 20 percent of opposition-held east Aleppo city from the remainder of rebel territory.

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Nurses in tears as they have to pull premature babies out of incubators to take them to an underground shelter.

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Originally posted by kpo:

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Nurses in tears as they have to pull premature babies out of incubators to take them to an underground shelter.

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Sorry, I should say terrorist nurses pulling terrorist premature babies out of incubators to save them from Assad and Putin's righteous bombing. Right Sig?

#PutinFangirlsForever


"Objective truths are established by evidence. Personal truths by faith. Political truths by incessant repetition."

Russia's and Assad's War Crimes in Syria - http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=60278
Evidence the Syrian regime sponsors ISIS - http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=60521

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Originally posted by G:
I had a some time this morning - I think we should start making money off Putin:

#PutinFangirlsForever

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The head of Aleppo's White Helmets branch watched last week as two women combed a body bag for signs of their loved ones. “Suddenly, the mother cried out and reached for a leg. She said he was her husband. She knew his jeans,” said Ammar al-Selma.

Then her companion recognized a watch. “All that was left of her son was his arm. We’re bringing in body parts at this stage.”

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Crippled by shortages, even the White Helmets have to choose their rescue missions carefully — wasting too much gas to reach one blast site could rob them of the chance to save more lives at another.

When they do venture out, the rumble of warplanes can swiftly abort an operation. This weekend, Laith said he heard whimpers from the rubble as his team scrambled away.

“When you hear someone alive but reach them dead, that is the hardest part,” said Laith. Broken buildings across east Aleppo could still hide dozens of bodies, according to the local health directorate.

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And they're engaging in the crimes of demining neighborhoods, restoring water (pumping station previously under "rebel" control), and distributing aid. How dare they!

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Sig, see my post (right above yours) about why the casualty figures in Aleppo are drastically under-counted. [KPO's comment says] ... Another difficulty with the casualty figures coming from Aleppo - an inability to count the dead= KPO

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And they're engaging in the crimes of demining neighborhoods, restoring water (pumping station previously under "rebel" control), and distributing aid. How dare they!- SIGNY

Is this the best you can do? De-mining neighbourhoods of cluster bombs that they dropped, repairing water and electricity facilities that they bombed, distributing aid that they withheld for weeks from a starving population?

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"Objective truths are established by evidence. Personal truths by faith. Political truths by incessant repetition."

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Opposition refuses aid delivery via Castello Road
Aug. 31, 2016

The United Nations is calling for a 48-hour ceasefire to allow food and medicine to enter the embattled city of Aleppo, but a row over which route the aid convoys are to use has brought the plan to a halt.

The UN wants to use Castello Road, the road north of Aleppo that after weeks of bombing the regime captured last month to complete its encirclement of east Aleppo.

“If Castello Road becomes an aid corridor, the regime will make it impossible for us, as the opposition, to take it back,” Muhammad Fadila, the head of the Provincial Council of Aleppo, tells Syria Direct’s Bahira al-Zarier.

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They'll just ask YOUR TERRORIST BUDDIES, the White Helmet/ ISIL group!

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Sig, you are a parody of yourself. A volunteer rescue organisation that has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts are "terrorists" - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/05/the-guardian-vie
w-on-the-nobel-peace-prize-give-it-to-syrias-white-helmets

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and there's a lot more of this evidence around ...

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"Here's a helmet and a vest - now stand over there next to the guys with the flag, say "cheese!"

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Originally posted by G:
Nothing says Clueless like a Kiki post.

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