Somewhere a war is raging between a government and a terrorist group that pioneered the use of suicide tactics, which it uses often against the civilian population. The terrorist group claims it has a right to land and is oppressed by the government. The government, tired of years of suicide attacks and failed peace agremeents brokered by European countries, has decided to engage the terror group in combat. The fighting has put hundreds of thousands of civilians in the crossfire, limiting their access to food, shelter, and medical facilities. So what conflict is being described below [note: I’ve removed the names of the two parties in the text below]:
Hundreds of people have been killed and scores of wounded are overwhelming understaffed and ill-equipped medical facilities in [an area of the unnamed country], following intensified fighting between the [unnamed government’s military] and the [terror group], the Red Cross warned on Tuesday. An estimated 250,000 people are trapped in a 250 square-kilometre area which has come under intense fighting. They have no safe area to take shelter and are unable to flee, the Red Cross said. [The country’s] military says it is trying to secure the north-east coastline to encircle [the terror group] as part of a final assault. Troops were on Tuesday moving north from the captured rebel town ….. to take the 30km stretch. The military says it hopes to control the entire north within weeks. People are being caught in the crossfire, hospitals and ambulances have been hit by shelling and several aid workers have been injured while evacuating the wounded. “The violence is preventing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from operating in the region,” said Jacques de Maio, ICRC head of operations … The terrified population is in need of protection, medical care and basic assistance, according to the ICRC, which urged the [country’s] military and the [terror group] to allow “safe and voluntary movement of civilians out of the combat zone.” Hundreds of patients need emergency treatment and evacuation to [a hospital] in the government-controlled area, said the Red Cross. United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon and the European Union have expressed deep concern for civilians who are caught in the fighting. “We may see countless victims and a terrible humanitarian situation, unless civilians are protected and international humanitarian law is respected in all circumstances,” said Mr de Maio. “It’s high time to take decisive action and stop further bloodshed because time is running out.” The ICRC said humanitarian aid workers must be allowed to enter [the region] and their premises must be protected from shelling and looting, as required by international humanitarian law.
If you’ve watched the news the past month, you know the story above could have described the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. If you guessed that you’d be wrong. The article is describing the current fighting between the government of Sri Lanka and the terror group known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is better known as the Tamil Tigers. its interesting how one story of civilians caught in the crossfire between a nation and a terror group garners so much attention, and the other story is largely ignored.
