As US-Led War Continues, What Happens to Civilians Wounded and Displaced?

The United States has entered the new year pledging to lead a war on ISIS for “as long as it takes to prevail.” But what of the Syrian civilians whose lives have been upended by years of conflict and whose plight is used, in part, to justify U.S.-led military intervention?

According to a group of Syrian doctors and aid workers, ordinary people are being neglected by the international community.

“Between 30 to 60 people are dying each day since the bombings started,” said Tawfik Shamaa, spokesperson for the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organizations (UOSSM), an association of 14 non-governmental organizations that provide aid to regions of the Levant, including besieged areas of Syria.

The organization met on Monday with officials of France—whose government, a participant in the U.S.-led war, provides a majority of the group’s funds, according to Reuters.

“There is only talk of extremism and Islamic State, but not the women and children who are killed, the bodies torn apart, the stomachs blown open, which is what doctors are dealing with each day,” Shamaa continued.

The statements come amid grim warnings from United Nations officials about the crisis of civilian displacement.

Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, declared at an annual meeting of Turkey’s ambassadors in Ankara on Tuesday, “The Syria and Iraq mega-crises, the multiplication of new crises and the old crises that seem never to die have created the worst displacement situation in the world since World War II.”

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