When “respect and protection” mean war crimes

Russia’s newspaper cites an NGO as saying: ‘Refugees must be respected’. The paper added that we have to do our best to “alleviate the suffering of Syrians both inside and outside the war zone.”

It is ironic to find the party which is causing the suffering of Syrians to call for respect and alleviation of Syrian’s suffering.

One would wonder if in Russia’s terminology “respect and protection” mean killing and destruction!

Russia did not respect Syria and Syrians when it violated their sovereignty by interfering in Syria’s internal affairs and by planning to be an occupying force.

Russia supported Assad against the Syrians it is claiming to respect and protect, repeatedly vetoed draft resolutions in the UN Security Council that were designed to merely protect Syrians from their man’s brutality.

If respect and protection mean war crimes, Russia has contributed a lot in this regard. According to Amnesty International, Russia has committed war crimes with airstrikes in Syria that have killed hundreds of civilians and caused “massive destruction” in residential areas.

To further “protect” Syrians, Russia unlawfully used unguided bombs in densely populated areas of Syria as well as cluster munitions.

In Aleppo, Russian airstrikes killed hundreds of civilians and caused the displacement of its inhabitants.

Russia has used ISIS as a pretext for intervention, while bombing civilians demanding respect and freedom.

Assad sees Syrians as a greater threat to his continued authoritarian rule than ISIS.

To Russia, respect and protection mean indiscriminate bombing and killing hundreds of civilians by striking schools, medical facilities, markets, and other non-military targets. This has only intensified the displacement of Syrian civilians, as they flee for their lives.

With all this, Syrians ask Russia to kindly stop its “respect and protection” of Syrians as these are the main reason of their agony and suffering.