Posted on 03/25/2018 3:07:23 PM PDT by Texas Fossil
Humanitarian agencies are struggling to meet the health and aid needs of the civilian population of Afrin as the number of people recently displaced due to Turkey’s offensive climbs to an estimated 167,000. Concerns have also been raised for the security of the thousands who remain in the canton.
“Children, women, and men have undertaken harrowing journeys to flee Afrin and need urgent health assistance. Our staff have met civilians who reported walking for 36 hours to reach safer areas,” said Elizabeth Hoff, representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Syria.
People arriving at shelters have described “running in the face of shelling, sleeping in the open, being separated from their families,” according to Marixie Mercado, a spokesperson for the UN children’s agency, AFP reported.
An estimated 167,000 people have been displaced due to hostilities in Afrin and between 50,000 and 70,000 civilians have remained in the city, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN’s humanitarian agency, told reporters in Geneva on Friday.
Theft and looting has continued in Afrin, the UK-based conflict monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported, and water and electricity utilities have not resumed regular service.
Turkish officials have stated they would investigate reports of looting by members of Syrian militias.
The Observatory also reported some arrests of tens of people who had remained in Afrin, noting that they have been subject to insults and humiliation in detention centres.
Most of those fleeing Turkey’s onslaught on Afrin have sought shelter in Tal Rifaat, still under Kurdish YPG control, and smaller numbers have crossed into territory under control of pro-regime forces around the villages of Nubl and al-Zahra.
The WHO has sent four mobile health teams to these three areas and has a second shipment of medical supplies ready to send to Tal Rifaat and Afrin “once access is granted,” it stated on Friday.
The medical aid agency is also seeking to assist civilians remaining in Afrin city and surrounding areas now under control of Turkish forces and their Syrian allies. WHO is working with partners in Turkey to help boost cross-border services.
However, the aid that has been provided is insufficient, the Observatory stated, estimating that more than 300,000 people have been displaced, many of whom are suffering under poor weather conditions, sleeping in the open because of a lack of tents.
Some people have tried to reach Aleppo city, the monitor stated, but are being charged as much as $1,000 per person at checkpoints manned by pro-regime forces. Some are resorting to paying smugglers.
Inside Afrin, just one of four hospitals is still functioning, WHO stated, adding that it plans to ship supplies and medicines to the facility next week and is organizing a vaccination campaign.
Aid agencies have expressed concern about accessing Afrin since it came under Turkish control.
“We cannot access Afrin as it’s an occupied region,” Ali al-Zatari, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Syria, said this week, adding that daily attempts to reach the region are underway.
Turkish aid agencies have delivered aid to Afrin civilians, though the Observatory alleged that the aid is being handed out for the benefit of the media, “while behind the cameras and in the scattered and remote villages in Afrin countryside, [this] humanitarian aid was sold at high prices to merchants and shop owners.”
Turkish troops and allied Syrian militias announced control of Afrin city, the largest urban centre in the Kurdish canton, on Sunday.
Clashes continue throughout Afrin canton, with the Kurdish forces carrying out several attacks as part of its guerrilla-style campaign of resistance, according to local reports.
Oh I get it, you’re a lawyer.
L
Nope. Just somebody who reads the Founders.
Apparently you didn’t read Alexander Hamilton and his views:
“The President is to be Commander and Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. In this respect his authority would be nominally the same as that of the King of Great Britain, but in substance much inferior to it. It would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the land and naval forces. . . ; while that of the British King extends to the declaring of war and to the raising and regulating of fleets and armies; all of which by the Constitution would appertain of the legislature.”
Last time I checked he was one of the Founders.
Try again. I can do this all day.
L
Great to see you delve a little deeper.
However you reading comprehension needs work.
You seemed to be hung up on the declaration of war. Last time that happened was 1941.
Yet, we’ve been to Korea, Vietnam, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Panama, Afghanistan, Irag/Kuwait, Irag etc.
Has Congress’ powermongers made any serious attempt to legally stop this? No. Because the President has authority to use the military.
The reason you state you “can do this all day”, is that you have no intellectual conscience nor ability to reason effectively.
So, you will just flail away with statements that aren’t really proving much, but how dense your thought process is.
“Last time that happened was 1941.”
True dat. Therein lies the problem.
“Yet, we’ve been to Korea, Vietnam, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Panama, Afghanistan, Irag/Kuwait, Irag etc.”
At the risk of repeating myself, therein lies the problem.
“Has Congress’ powermongers made any serious attempt to legally stop this? No. Because the President has authority to use the military.”
No, it’s because Congress is infested with pussies who don’t want a vote used against them.
“The reason you state you “can do this all day”, is that you have no intellectual conscience nor ability to reason effectively.”
No, it’s because I agree with the Founder of this forum. Why don’t you peruse the Home page and read it for yourself. Feel free to move your lips while you do. I hear that helps those of lesser intelligence.
Maybe you can find a grown up to explain it to you.
Now piss off.
L
Ok...F Off Nancy girl.
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