Attacking an nongovernmental organization ambulance in western Syria, warplanes from the Syria-Russia axis killed four innocent civilians on Thursday, June 20 — International Refugee Day. Three were paramedics and one a wounded civilian.
The symbolism of the attack should not be discounted: it took place on international refugee day, a day that remembers, in part, the 5 million Syrian refugees forced from their homes since the commencement of the civil war in 2011.
Sadly, this latest horror is just standard fare aggression from Russia and its dictator ally Bashar Assad. Russia will deny any involvement, but it shouldn’t be believed. After all, the town of Ma’arat al Nu’man where the airstrike occurred is just 45 miles from Russia’s air base near Latakia. Russian warplanes from that base have played a significant role supporting Assad’s terror campaign against the civilian population of Idlib province. A last redoubt of the rebellion against Assad’s rule, Idlib suffers a brutal campaign of terrorism from the sky. This has involved escalating attacks against medical infrastructure in order to maximize the suffering of civilians. The Syrians and Russians hope that this suffering will compel the rebels to surrender.
Sadly, thus far, neither Assad nor Vladimir Putin have suffered any significant consequences for their atrocities. That should change. You can watch the scene of Thursday’s massacre below.
