Civil defense volunteers in Aleppo and Idlib provinces held sit-in protests on Tuesday to condemn the repeated attacks by the Assad regime and Russia on the civil defense centers. Protestors called on United Nations to hold accountable those responsible for the direct targeting of civilians, public markets and vital civilian centers.
Local residents participated in the protests that took place in several villages and towns in Idlib and Aleppo provinces, the biggest of which took place in the town of Atareb in Aleppo province. Medical workers, teachers, and members of the free police force also participated in the protests.
Participants in the protests held signs that read “civil defense, doctors and teachers are hand in hand to ease the suffering of civilians,” “stop targeting hospitals and civil defense centers,” and “civil defense, doctors and teachers are not terrorists.”
Director of the civil defense center in the village of Baliyoun in rural Idlib, Tariq Alloush, said that the goal of the protests was to assert that their work is purely humanitarian and to tell the world that Assad is the one who is bombing children with chemical weapons and incendiary bombs.
Director of the Civil Defense Center in the town of Atareb, Mohammed Hallaq, said that about 300 people participated in the sit-in protest to convey their voice and say that they are “not a target.” Director of the Civil Defense Center in the village of Ghadfa in rural Idlib, Mohammed Hamadah, said that they participated in the sit-in protest to demand that civil centers defense, hospitals and schools are spared attacks by the Assad regime and Russian forces.
Director of the Civil Defense Center in the town of Kafranbel in rural Idlib, Obeida Othman, said that they wanted to send a message to the world and international community that the civil defense and hospitals are working in the humanitarian field, stressing that they must not be targets for bombardment by the Assad regime and its allies. He stressed the need for holding to account those responsible for attacks on vital civilian centers.
The Syrian Coalition earlier said that the continued attacks by the Assad regime and Russia on civil defense centers and hospitals are a criminal, reprehensible act and a clear evidence of the Assad regime’s insistence on carrying on with the destructive policies that it has pursued since the start of the Syrian revolution in Dara’a in 2011.
The Coalition called for holding the Assad regime accountable for war crimes against civilians, civil defense volunteers, hospitals and schools as it stressed that accountability is crucial for a complete political transition in the country.
Earlier this week, medical workers held similar protests in several towns and villages in rural Aleppo and rural Idlib, most notably in the towns of Daret Azza, Kafarhamra, and Anadan in rural Aleppo and the town of Atmah in northern rural Idlib to protest the attacks on medical workers and healthcare facilities. (Source: Syrian Coalitions’ Media Department + Agencies)
