A British charity organization has launched an online campaign urging the country’s politicians to save Idlib from the brutal bombardment by the Assad regime and Russia. The campaign marked the third anniversary of the death of British MP Jo Cox who was murdered by a far-right gunman for campaigning for refugees and for seeking an end to the humanitarian tragedy in Syria.
Help Refugees on Friday asked senior political figures across the UK to take a break from Brexit to focus on one of the issues that mattered most to the slain MP: the humanitarian emergency in Syria. The charity cited Jo’s now-famous words: “We have more in common than that which divides us.”
Organizers of the campaign sought to bring the crimes being committed by the Assad regime and Russian forces to the spotlight by projecting the phrase ‘the world is watching Russia’s war crimes’ on the wall of the Russian Embassy in London. They also published photos of St Thomas’ Hospital in London lit up with a banner that says ‘Putin: this is not a target’ and ‘Russia bombed 29 hospitals in Idlib during the last six weeks.’
Cox’s sister Kim Leadbeater sent an open letter to her country’s politicians urging action for civilians trapped in Idlib province.
“One of the issues that mattered most to Jo was the humanitarian emergency in Syria. Tragically, three years after her death, the suffering of civilians goes on,” the letter said. It was co-signed by MPs Alison McGovern and Tom Tugendhat.
“One million children are currently trapped in Idlib, facing daily Russian and regime airstrikes. In the past six weeks alone, more than 352 civilians have been killed, including 75 children. At least 1000 more have been injured. A further 400,000 people have been forced to flee their homes- many for the fourth, fifth, or sixth time – but there is nowhere left for them to go,” the letter added.
The letter also read: “Three years ago, when civilians in Aleppo were facing unrelenting aerial attacks, the late Jo Cox MP championed their protection in parliament: ‘It is not ethical to wish away the barrel bombs from the Syrian government when you have the capacity to stop them.’”
Murdered in 2016 by the far-right gunman Thomas Mair, Cox campaigned passionately for the protection of Syrian civilians and spoke out against the massacres taking place in Syria. She also criticized her country’s inaction to end the suffering of the Syrian civilians. Following her death, the Cox family started a fundraiser to raise funds for three charity organizations and aid groups, including the Syrian Civil Defense Corps. The campaign raised about 2 million GBP. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Inab Baladi)
