Trump congratulates himself for saving lives as reports allege chemical weapon use by Turkish forces
While President Trump continues to heap praise on Turkey despite their immediate violation of the “ceasefire” that was signed yesterday, appalling images and reports are circulating that indicate Turkey’s jihadist proxies are using illegal chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians.
Foreign Policy reports that they have received photographs from one of the two main cities targeted by the Turkish onslaught, Ras al-Ayn (known as Serê Kaniyê in Kurdish), that show civilian children covered in burns from ammunition loaded with white phosphorus, which causes severe burns and maims when it makes contact with human flesh.
Turkey is also accused of having attacked a medical convoy attempting to enter the city and evacuate the victims of their bombardment, which has continued unabated despite the “ceasefire” touted by Trump but that Turkey immediately refused to call a “ceasefire” and clearly never had any intention of observing.
Update: As of an hour ago, there were more than 38 injured people inside the Ras al-Ain hospital who were unable to evacuate because Turkish proxies had attacked a medical convoy trying to enter the town, according to the humanitarian nonprofit the Kurdish Red Crescent.
— Lara Seligman (@laraseligman) October 18, 2019
Unconfirmed reports appear to indicate the hospital itself is under attack.
#BREAKING NEWS #URGENT
The only hospital in Serêkaniyê/ ras al ain
is Under attack ,
injured civilians & sick people are scrimping for help
turkey violates ceasefire#SDF #YPG #YPJ #QSD #kurds #kurdish @LindseyGrahamSC @brett_mcgurk #TwitterKurdshttps://t.co/lyQEw8FhpK pic.twitter.com/lbRAeUKtqO— Botin Kurdistani (@kurdistannews24) October 18, 2019
A letter from the Syrian Democratic Council, the area’s governing body, states that “Turkey uses all kinds of weapons including the internationally prohibited ones, and our medical teams are unable to evacuate the civilians.”
While it is not clear if the white phosphorous munitions were deliberately used to target civilians — which is banned under the international Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, the pictures coming out of Rojava are horrifying to behold. The United Nations has opened an investigation into the incident.
To see the president take to his Twitter and congratulate himself for “saving lives” while the Kurdish people he betrayed continue to die in horrifying ways from the murderous onslaught he unleashed is one of the most grotesque efforts at gaslighting we’ve seen in modern memory, and our conscience demands that we hold him and everyone else responsible for these atrocities.
Think of how many lives we saved in Syria and Turkey by getting a ceasefire yesterday. Thousands and thousands, and maybe many more!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2019
If you can bear seeing the pictures of the burned civilians to fully grasp the gravity of what is unfolding in Syria, you may do so here. Be warned; they are EXTREMELY graphic.
Original reporting by Lara Seligman at Foreign Policy.
