‘He said, can I show you some pictures on my laptop. I said okay. He showed me photo after photo of extraordinary injuries that people were facing. There was one video in particular, that made me gasp out loud. It was of a baby being born by caesarean section, and the mother had been shot in the abdomen. Which I learned was an amusement of régime soldiers. They would choose a different body part each week to target, of the civilians who tried to get bread or reach the market.
David showed me this video of an emergency caesarean. There was an awful moment when this baby came out in silence. And suddenly, the baby cried out. And tears came to my eyes. And I probably fell in love with David that day, and I probably fell in love with Syria that day. And since then, we’ve set up a foundation together. We’ve trained some 500 Syrian doctors, surgeons, anaesthetists, in the surgical skills they need to treat injuries inflicted by conflict.
And there’s been a lot of conflict. And the health system has coped in such a remarkable way, that it’s really taken a toll on the healthcare workers who are trying valiantly to hold it up.
One of the amazing things about the Syrian revolution, is that it also gave a space for an extraordinary opening of civil society, and an amazing number of humanitarian organisations, and healthcare organisations as well, where doctors, and physicians, and pharmacists, work together to create extraordinary organisations, that have provided a health system, in areas where there has been no government for a decade.
And that’s something we’re really proud to support, and I’m also so delighted to see one of the surgeons that David operated with, side by side, as brothers, in Eastern Aleppo in 2013-14, here tonight. These are friendships that were forged in the most extraordinary circumstances, and we’re never going to let them go. And we’re here, with Syrian organisations, even after the large NGOs have lost interest, even after the multilateral institutions are lacking funds, we’ll be there for the long-term.
Celine Kasem:
‘If we go back to what inspired people go out and ask for such a low bar of human rights. And they went out with flowers, and water, in the first protests. And they were asking for freedom and their dignity, because there was simply over the last fifty years, none of what we in the rest of the world expect.
The very simple pleasures of, you in high school being able to write about a conflict somewhere around the world. You were not able to get good resources to be able to write about this. You were not able to ask questions as to why certain branches look like this, and why do they act like this. Why are there so many photos of this President, everybody that we know? It’s really interesting, because I was outside of Syria, and I would come and visit in the summer.
You don’t realise this as a child, but then recently I was in Turkey with my family, and my baby sister asked, who is this? And I wonder if I asked that as a child, when I would go and visit.
It was simply a dictatorship, and we have a famous saying in Syria, that says “The wall’s listening”. Even if you were home, even if you have these private book clubs which my dad’s friends had in Syria, and they would meet up, and they would talk about a certain book that was banned in Syria. That was never allowed to be there.
But they were arrested. And they spent tens of years in prison. They were tortured, and their stories are just like all of the detainees stories.
So they wanted just a simple, average life, that all us can be so privileged to live all around the world, under a non-dictatorship.'
Dr. Mohammad al-Hadj Ali:
‘So, unfortunately over the last few years, if we look at the twelve year story; I’m sure everyone here has their own stories, their own problems, their family attachments, and all that stuff. So over twelve years, we can see a decreasing appetite towards supporting Syrian people. As Ellie said, even NGOs, they recently started dropping down their funding and support to Syrian people. People are fed up with their story, and it’s a dictatorship, and Russia intervened in this story, and there’s no hope at all.
Until the earthquake came. And came to the story. And I believe it was not only shaking the Earth to destroy and damage the infrastructure and the buildings in part of Syrian territory, but it shaped the whole situation around politics around Syria. When the time, people were talking about normalisation with Assad régime. There’s no way we can bring them back to justice, and accountability, and all that stuff.
So, the best way is to normalise with Assad, and forget about all these stories, and the earthquake came. It came, actually, to revive the rights of all those being detained, and all those being killed, and all those being forced to be displaced. And all refugees, it was a shake, not only for the Earth, but I believe, in the politics around Syria as well.
But they were arrested. And they spent tens of years in prison. They were tortured, and their stories are just like all of the detainees stories.
So they wanted just a simple, average life, that all us can be so privileged to live all around the world, under a non-dictatorship.'
Dr. Mohammad al-Hadj Ali:
‘So, unfortunately over the last few years, if we look at the twelve year story; I’m sure everyone here has their own stories, their own problems, their family attachments, and all that stuff. So over twelve years, we can see a decreasing appetite towards supporting Syrian people. As Ellie said, even NGOs, they recently started dropping down their funding and support to Syrian people. People are fed up with their story, and it’s a dictatorship, and Russia intervened in this story, and there’s no hope at all.
Until the earthquake came. And came to the story. And I believe it was not only shaking the Earth to destroy and damage the infrastructure and the buildings in part of Syrian territory, but it shaped the whole situation around politics around Syria. When the time, people were talking about normalisation with Assad régime. There’s no way we can bring them back to justice, and accountability, and all that stuff.
So, the best way is to normalise with Assad, and forget about all these stories, and the earthquake came. It came, actually, to revive the rights of all those being detained, and all those being killed, and all those being forced to be displaced. And all refugees, it was a shake, not only for the Earth, but I believe, in the politics around Syria as well.
And unfortunately, eight thousand people died, in the northern part of Syria, and some parts of Syria under régime control as well. But if we look at the overall situation in Syria, the economic situation, in the areas under régime control, in northwest Syria, in northeast Syria, in Rukban camp where Syrian Emergency Task Force takes fantastic job to break the siege there; if we look at all these fragments of our beloved Syria, the situation is not that great.
But, to be honest, I remain an optimist, and I say, that if we are not under barbaric attacks, from airstrikes from Russian side or régime side, then the other parts of Syria will flourish very quickly. Because we have the will of Syrian people. We have the desire for a better Syria, and a future which is rosy for the Syrian people.
What I want to say, unfortunately, when we talk at the present moment about Syria, and what’s happening in the region as well, not only in Syria; it’s sort of the dynamics in the region, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq: all that stuff unfortunately influences Syria. Even Turkey, the internal politics inside Turkey, very much affecting Syrian people there, and refugees there.
I would describe the moment at the present time in Syria, that this régime changed Syria, from what we call the land of civilisations. All ancient civilisations started there, in Syria. And now, it’s from the land of ancient civilisations, to the land and the country and the state of Captagon, and the drugs. This is unfortunately, when you see a country and régime, failing to control the country, in their own way, they have to become a state of drugs. And they have to shift the country from a place, to another place.
So this is how I describe the moment here, we are stuck under the dynamics of the region, the régime wanted to label the country as a country and as a state of drugs. They want to put pressure on other countries and our world as well, to follow their own agenda.
Hopefully there is time to talk about the Syrian way. The airstrikes may break more infrastructure, streets, country, buildings, all that stuff. But it will never break the Syrian way, and the Syrian human beings, and the free people. And those who have the real desire to change Syria from a place to another place, they wanted a land and a state of narcotics and drugs, and we want Syria to be back again as the land of civilisation.'
Dr. Aula Abbara:
‘This issue of Captagon, and I’m sure many of you are following it, is based on Fenethylline, which is an amphetamine-based narcotic. We are talking a multi-billion dollar industry, that essentially is continuing to fund the conflict in Syria, the weaponry in Syria. But also because of the spillover into the region, is also making other countries stand up and notice, and so it’s a very frightening development. I can tell you many anecdotes of factory owners being forced to produce this drug, and feeling that they had no choice. They may have been loyalists, but have now had to leave, because of the threats to their lives, and that of their loved ones.’
Ellie Nott:
‘I remember the first conference I went to in Gazientep in 2014, and it felt like a Ministry of Health in waiting. There were data analysts, people from Yale, people from Harvard, it felt like a shadow Health Ministry. I found it extraordinary, the idea of governments where there is no government. So often we’re fed a picture in the media of failed states. If there is conflict, people are helpless victims, everything has collapsed, no life as we know it is carrying on.
That’s not the case, and I find, not to denigrate the huge challenges and struggles that exist, there’s a huge amount of industry, of agency, of people working together supporting their communities, and grounding some of these things, like human rights and democracy.
The Idlib Health Directorate, which is an extraordinary body, which was dreamed up in someone’s sitting room earlier in the conflict; that’s a body that co-ordinates health governance across the northwest of Syria. And it’s amazing. Just small things, which might seem small if you’ve lived in Britain all your life, but they have elections to their boards. And at the end of someone’s term, that person steps down, and they have a new election.
For Syria, that’s very revolutionary. It really is. So there’s this idea of the micro-level of democracy, democratic practices, and the idea of health care workers as advocates, and voices, for human rights. I think that’s especially powerful in the siege, and forced displacement, from eastern Aleppo. Especially in 2016, when healthcare workers were the most articulate voices calling for a stop to the barbarity of what was happening there.
A point on Idlib at the moment, I had a very dear friend who got back last Friday, from being in Idlib. He said as soon as he left, he had a sense of peacefulness. He was training doctors, obstetricians, gynaecologists, to do a cervical screening programme. And he said that kind of work, was now having the space to take place.
And how quickly that changes. Between the 4th and the 8th of October, I think 52 people have been killed, 11 of whom are children, another 246 injured, dozens of facilities damaged including four hospitals. It’s just a reminder that the northwest is so vulnerable. And the predations of the régime and its Russian allies, we just have to keep talking about it, there’s no other way.’
Dr. Aula Abbara:
‘Having observed the evolution of the health system, particularly in the northwest of Syria, but also comparing it to what’s happened in the northeast of Syria, and the areas under government control, we can see the resilience, determination and imagination of the healthcare workers, and leaders within healthcare, in the northwest of Syria.
It always amuses me how challenging it is for international organisations to work with Syria. Because Syria, before the conflict, had a functioning health system: not perfect, but functioning. Far more so than many of the other conflict-affected countries around the world. And the international humanitarian organisations are not used to this. They want to dictate across the border.
I hate figures, because behind every figure there’s a human, but at least 950 healthcare workers have been killed in the course of their work, let alone secondarily, let alone those detained, let alone those tortured, or forced from their homes.’
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But, to be honest, I remain an optimist, and I say, that if we are not under barbaric attacks, from airstrikes from Russian side or régime side, then the other parts of Syria will flourish very quickly. Because we have the will of Syrian people. We have the desire for a better Syria, and a future which is rosy for the Syrian people.
What I want to say, unfortunately, when we talk at the present moment about Syria, and what’s happening in the region as well, not only in Syria; it’s sort of the dynamics in the region, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq: all that stuff unfortunately influences Syria. Even Turkey, the internal politics inside Turkey, very much affecting Syrian people there, and refugees there.
I would describe the moment at the present time in Syria, that this régime changed Syria, from what we call the land of civilisations. All ancient civilisations started there, in Syria. And now, it’s from the land of ancient civilisations, to the land and the country and the state of Captagon, and the drugs. This is unfortunately, when you see a country and régime, failing to control the country, in their own way, they have to become a state of drugs. And they have to shift the country from a place, to another place.
So this is how I describe the moment here, we are stuck under the dynamics of the region, the régime wanted to label the country as a country and as a state of drugs. They want to put pressure on other countries and our world as well, to follow their own agenda.
Hopefully there is time to talk about the Syrian way. The airstrikes may break more infrastructure, streets, country, buildings, all that stuff. But it will never break the Syrian way, and the Syrian human beings, and the free people. And those who have the real desire to change Syria from a place to another place, they wanted a land and a state of narcotics and drugs, and we want Syria to be back again as the land of civilisation.'
Dr. Aula Abbara:
‘This issue of Captagon, and I’m sure many of you are following it, is based on Fenethylline, which is an amphetamine-based narcotic. We are talking a multi-billion dollar industry, that essentially is continuing to fund the conflict in Syria, the weaponry in Syria. But also because of the spillover into the region, is also making other countries stand up and notice, and so it’s a very frightening development. I can tell you many anecdotes of factory owners being forced to produce this drug, and feeling that they had no choice. They may have been loyalists, but have now had to leave, because of the threats to their lives, and that of their loved ones.’
Ellie Nott:
‘I remember the first conference I went to in Gazientep in 2014, and it felt like a Ministry of Health in waiting. There were data analysts, people from Yale, people from Harvard, it felt like a shadow Health Ministry. I found it extraordinary, the idea of governments where there is no government. So often we’re fed a picture in the media of failed states. If there is conflict, people are helpless victims, everything has collapsed, no life as we know it is carrying on.
That’s not the case, and I find, not to denigrate the huge challenges and struggles that exist, there’s a huge amount of industry, of agency, of people working together supporting their communities, and grounding some of these things, like human rights and democracy.
The Idlib Health Directorate, which is an extraordinary body, which was dreamed up in someone’s sitting room earlier in the conflict; that’s a body that co-ordinates health governance across the northwest of Syria. And it’s amazing. Just small things, which might seem small if you’ve lived in Britain all your life, but they have elections to their boards. And at the end of someone’s term, that person steps down, and they have a new election.
For Syria, that’s very revolutionary. It really is. So there’s this idea of the micro-level of democracy, democratic practices, and the idea of health care workers as advocates, and voices, for human rights. I think that’s especially powerful in the siege, and forced displacement, from eastern Aleppo. Especially in 2016, when healthcare workers were the most articulate voices calling for a stop to the barbarity of what was happening there.
A point on Idlib at the moment, I had a very dear friend who got back last Friday, from being in Idlib. He said as soon as he left, he had a sense of peacefulness. He was training doctors, obstetricians, gynaecologists, to do a cervical screening programme. And he said that kind of work, was now having the space to take place.
And how quickly that changes. Between the 4th and the 8th of October, I think 52 people have been killed, 11 of whom are children, another 246 injured, dozens of facilities damaged including four hospitals. It’s just a reminder that the northwest is so vulnerable. And the predations of the régime and its Russian allies, we just have to keep talking about it, there’s no other way.’
Dr. Aula Abbara:
‘Having observed the evolution of the health system, particularly in the northwest of Syria, but also comparing it to what’s happened in the northeast of Syria, and the areas under government control, we can see the resilience, determination and imagination of the healthcare workers, and leaders within healthcare, in the northwest of Syria.
It always amuses me how challenging it is for international organisations to work with Syria. Because Syria, before the conflict, had a functioning health system: not perfect, but functioning. Far more so than many of the other conflict-affected countries around the world. And the international humanitarian organisations are not used to this. They want to dictate across the border.
I hate figures, because behind every figure there’s a human, but at least 950 healthcare workers have been killed in the course of their work, let alone secondarily, let alone those detained, let alone those tortured, or forced from their homes.’
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