Tell Putin!

Syrian refugees, clamped in Idlib under the bombing of Russian aviation, are looking for protection from the pope

On the eve of the meeting of the President of Russia and Pope, the residents of the Syrian province of Idlib, planned on July 4, turned through social networks to Pope Francis with a request to convey to the Russian president the truth about that nightmare, in which millions of Syrians were today.

Men, women and children, doctors and activists, indigenous residents of the Idlib province and Syrians who fled to Idlib from the war, living in terrible conditions in home -made tent camps, were photographed with posters, on which there are quotes from the Gospel of Matvey:

• "He was sick and you visited me"

• "He was a wanderer and you accepted me",

• “Since you did this to one of these brothers of my smaller ones, you made me” -

And under them:

• "Pope Francis, our hospitals bomb",

• "Pope Francis, our houses are destroyed, we have nowhere to go",

• "Pope Francis, our children are killed."

And on all posters without exception by a red felt -tip pen or paint, the hashtag #TellPutin is written. Tell Putin that people live here! This is what Syria citizens are asking for Pope.

Idlib is the last, not controlled by the Syrian President Bashar al -Assad, a de -escalation zone. Four such zones in Syria were created on the initiative of Russia, Turkey and Iran in 2017 under the pretext of finding a political settlement of the conflict between the Syrian authorities and the opposition. In practice, the creation of zones allowed Assad and its allies - Russia and Iran - to justify the full -scale military operations by violation of the ceasefire by armed opponents of the regime - both Islamist groups and secular opposition.

All operations began with massive air bombing and ground shelling, in all operations, weapons of mass destruction prohibited by international conventions were also used (chemical, incendiary, cassette, etc.). Then, for the population and armed groups that did not want to give up, they opened the “humanitarian corridor”, as a rule, in the controlled (and according to the official Damascus, “occupied by Turkey), the Idlib province, in which a quarter of today's population of today's Syria and several thousand members of armed groups accumulated (among which, indeed, part are religious fanatics).

Since January of this year, the Russian military, who had previously proclaimed the final victory over the Islamic State and Jabhat An-Nusra (the main competing terrorist groups in Russia), again began to persistently talk about the fight against international terrorism in Syria.

The number of militants in Idlib in the reports of the Russian military grew rapidly. In January there were 20,000, in March - 50,000, in April - already 70,000.

Since the end of April, Syrian troops, with the support of the Allies, began a military operation in Idlib. At the same time, representatives of Russia, whether it was diplomats or military, indicatively ignored the much more accurate than the declared number of terrorists, the fact: on an area of ​​about 7,000 square kilometers (the Idlib province of plus some parts of the provinces of Latakia, Hama and Aleppo) more than 3 million people were concentrated, 1 million of which are children.

In two months, according to the non -governmental organization “Syrian Observatory of Human Rights”, 536 civilians were killed (including 134 children and 105 women).

In June alone, medical facilities and hospitals, which are part of the Syrian American Medical Society monitoring network, recorded 1131 wounded, including 207 children and 134 women.

The raids of the Russian-Syrian aviation forces take place every day. And every day activists collect and transmit information about dozens (on some days the number reaches a hundred) goals that have been attacked from air and shelling from the ground.

According to the White Helmets organization, since the end of April, 2967 houses were destroyed in the Idlib de -escalation zone, 669 treated agricultural fields burned down, more than 30 medical institutions and hospitals became targets, 23 schools, 15 markets, 12 mosques, 5 camps were subjected to bombing and shelling ...

If a full -scale military operation begins in Idlib, humanitarian losses can be simply catastrophic even taking into account the realities of the Syrian war.

Everyone who fought in this war under the slogans of the fight against international terrorism demonstrated, in fact, the same total indifference to human life as terrorists. The regime of Bashar al -Assad, with the support of the Iranian regime, in its cruelty to Syrian citizens, was equal to the most terrible crimes of the fanatics of the Islamic State, and in terms of the number of victims, the IGs surpassed hundreds of times. In the Rakke, which was destroyed by carpet bombing, which the forces of the Western coalition, led by the United States, conquered the “Islamic state” from the militants, and turned more than 1,500 peaceful people into Stalingrad. In the Eastern Guta and in Aleppo, who bombed the Russian VKS, more than 1,500 and 1600 people, respectively.

But why then on the posters that the Syrians from Idlib are kept, there are no hashtags #tellassad or #tellkhamenei or #telltrump? Not only because on July 4, Pope meets with President Putin.

Appeals personally to the Russian president and wider - to Russia - calls to stop the destruction of civilians in Syria recently have become a disturbing trend. In the world media (moreover, in the media in the Middle Eastern region, even more often than in the Western ones), it is Russia who appears as the main actor of the Syrian conflict. It is to Russia that they are responsible for what is happening in Syria. It is to Russia that the UN appeals when he speaks of the “humanitarian price” of this war. "Putin, hospitals - not targets!" -It was written on huge light reinforcements that recently appeared on all the main hospitals of London (a joint-stock action with Idlib medical institutions, hospitals and ambulances that fell under the shelling of Russian-Syrian aircraft).

All these years, the “Syrian agenda” for domestic Russian consumption was based on two mantra: about the “limited contingent” of the Russian military fighting in Syria with international terrorism, and the short -term execution of our next “international duty”.

According to President Putin, the Russian military left Syria several times. But they never went out.

Only according to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (as of January this year), about 70 thousand Russian troops took part in the Syrian war, of which 68 thousand, including 460 generals. In Syria, along with their headquarters, commanders of the troops of all military districts, combined arms armies, Air Force and Air Defense Army, as well as divisions commanders served. 96% of the commanders of combined arms regiments and brigades passed through Syria. The combat experience was gained by 97% of the crews of military transport aircraft, 91% of the crews of army aviation, 87% of the crews of operational-tactical aviation and 60% of the long-range aviation crews. According to the head of the Main Directorate of the Military Police of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Vladimir Ivanovsky, about 60% of the total Russian contingent of military police military personnel were involved during the operation in Syria. According to the statement of Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov, “more than 600 modern weapons and military equipment were tested in Syria ... Syria became a serious landfill for the testing of the characteristics of the Russian weapons ...”

Russian media are not talking about the scope of our participation in the Syrian War (according to the Levada Center, already in the first three years of our involvement in the conflict-from 2015 to 2017-a monthly number of messages in Syria in the Russian media decreased by three and a half times). But it was this scope that made us in the eyes of the whole world as an aggressor.

The action “Tell Putin” addressed to the Pope is a very disturbing call.

In an attempt to achieve a monopoly influence in the Middle East, saving one of the most bloody regimes in this region and involuntarily defending the interests of another, no less aggressive, we risk repeating all the mistakes - both our own and strangers. And, becoming targets for radical religious fanatics, never return from this war.

Elena Milashina, "New Gazeta"

Roger Asfar

Syrian journalist, Christian

Your Holiness Pope Francis, I write to tell you the following before your meeting with President Putin

Your Holiness Pope Francis,

First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Roger, I am a Syrian from Aleppo, and I am a Christian. I lived according to Christian foundations for many years, I studied philosophy and Catholic theology, worked as a journalist and researcher. At the moment, I am completing my studies and specializing in Christian Muslim relations at St. Joseph University in Beirut.

I worked for many years to help the most unprotected people in Syria, especially living in besieged areas under constant bombing. I did this regardless of their religion and views - it gave me a wide and exhaustive understanding of what is happening in my country and how it affects the life of all Syrians.

Your Holiness, for people of goodwill, there are no differences between the faithful Christian way of life and the correct ethical choice at the time of the crisis, but one of our main problems today is disagreement with facts. The spread of false news and intentional misinformation distorted the reality of what really happens on Earth in Syria. For many Syrians, even those who are committed to the church, it is dangerous to tell the truth about what is happening there. Therefore, I write to you today, your Holiness,

Your Holiness, there is no doubt that the civilians of Idlib and its environs were subjected to daily bombing by artillery shells, missiles, aircraft - systematically and dematically. Even hospitals, medical centers, doctors were targets - it is bitter to admit it, but this became the norm in Syria.

About 3 million civilians live in the province of Idlib, among them many children. For many of them, Idlib was not always their home, they were forced to run there in search of safety after the ruins remained from their houses. Among the civilians of Idlib there are several hundred Christians who feel, without a doubt, that their suffering and the suffering of the rest of the Syrians will find a response in your heart, because you are their main spiritual mentor.

Your Holiness, the Church often taught me that no one should suffer like those living in Idlib now suffer from their faith, worldview and views. My faith taught me that those victories that were won by violence against innocent people and unjustified destruction of their houses will only entail more violence. The only thing that awaits us at the end of this path is the endless cycle of destruction.

Russia plays the main role - in military and political terms - in what is happening in Syria. Regardless of who is responsible for violations of human rights taking place in Syria, Russia can - if he wants to, stop the pre -reference choice as the goals of civilians, medical centers and doctors.

As a person and as a Christian, I pray you, Holy Father, not to forget the suffering of the Syrians in your prayers. In addition, I ask you, during your meeting with him, to tell President Putin about these suffering and ask him to protect peaceful people from the conflict, and not to keep them in his center. Ask him to stop targeting hospitals, medical workers and medical centers.

Translation from English: on request "Novaya Gazeta"