Air Raids on Aleppo Kill 13
Beirut’s Daily Star newspaper reports that ongoing air raids on rebel-held areas of Aleppo killed 13 people early today.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “It was the third straight day of air raids on the eastern Shaar neighborhood of the city, Syria’s commercial hub before a rebel offensive in July last year made it a key battleground in the conflict which erupted in March 2011.”
Aid Challenge in Syria Mounts for U.N. Official
The New York Times explores the mounting challenges facing Valerie Amos, the U.N.’s top official handling Syrian humanitarian relief.
“Ms. Amos has won only limited rights for aid groups to work in Syria, where hundreds of thousands of civilians in areas under insurgent control are unable to receive food, medicine and other supplies,” it writes.
“Ms. Amos, the under secretary general for humanitarian affairs and the emergency relief coordinator, is facing a conundrum as the 33-month-old conflict enters its second winter. Even as she has called loudly for access to areas in need, the humanitarian situation has worsened, her boss, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said Monday. If she pushes the Syrian government too hard, her working relationship could falter and the relief effort could backfire.”
Syria Region Where Polio Found Excluded from 2012 Vaccination Drive
In a twist on the ongoing fight to prevent polio from spreading in Syria, Reuters reports that the Assad government “excluded the largely rebel-held province of Deir al-Zor, where polio broke out this year, from a 2012 vaccination campaign, arguing that most residents had fled,” though hundreds of thousands of them remained.
“Public health researchers say missing out the Syrian province contributed to the reemergence there of polio, a highly infectious, incurable disease that can paralyze a child within hours but has been wiped out in many parts of the world,” writes Oliver Holmes.
“In November, the World Health Organization (WHO) said 13 cases had been found in the province. Two more have since been recorded there and the virus has surfaced in Aleppo city and near Damascus, the first outbreak since 1999 in Syria, where civil war has raged since a crackdown on protests in 2011.”
Refugees Face Dire Conditions in Bulgaria
The PBS Newshour has an in-depth video piece on the bleak conditions facing refugees crossing into Bulgaria, the poorest country in the European Union.
Bulgaria “is in danger of being overwhelmed by the influx of Syrians seeking sanctuary,” says reporter Jonathan Rugman. “Upon arrival, Syrian refugees find few resources, packed camps, unsafe conditions and acts of racial violence.”
You can watch the piece here.
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