What possible defense can there be for the airstrike on a refugee camp in Syria’s town of Sarmada? It is a refugee camp and it has refugees in it and they have already lost their homes and their property and their belongings and are dependent on charity of the most arbitrary sort. Why target them? Even though there is no official confirmation as yet that it was government aircraft who else could it be?
Last week it was hospitals and clinics in Aleppo and now it is camps. What is left ... schools?
The fact that 28 people were killed in the attack seems to have dissolved into just another statistic with no impact on global conscience whatsoever.
Just another headline even as the US and Russia “sort of” agree to bring about some relief from the intense conflict in Aleppo by imposing a cease-fire.
But at what price such efforts if the background throbs with the reverberations of the bombs being dropped on a lost people. To think that women and children were killed in this latest attack and that the old excuse of marking these places as militant and rebel strongholds has now worn thin. Clearly the intelligence on which these airstrikes are based is flawed and the Assad air force seems to find refuge if one can use that word in seeing such deaths as collateral damage in the war against the anti-government forces.
By much the same token even though the Yemen peace talks have resumed following the three day break initiated by government representatives who objected to an assault on a military camp by rebels, there is no sign of any major breakthrough with accusations and counter accusations framing the meeting.
With the good news that Aden airport is open, one can only hope that the accusations will end and some constructive discussions begin to what has been a three-week stalemate.
Even though the UN is now monitoring violations on the ground, the fact is that some elements do not want peace to be given a chance and are bent on sabotaging the talks.
Whether it is the Houthi breakaway factions or some of the moderates who want more of a say is difficult to ascertain but efforts of the international community and the Arab coalition determined to spike the guns and end strife must be encouraged and continued because if the table is shunned it will be immensely difficult to get people back to talks again and the specter of more violence will take center stage.
