Spectre of Srebrenica hangs over besieged Homs

In Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, a population is being starved and bombed into surrender. It is happening in full view of the world.

The people of this ancient city have been besieged for more than 600 days. The regime has attacked them indiscriminately, using crude barrel bombs and artillery fire. People are desperate for basic necessities. According to UNICEF, more than 1,000 children are still trapped in the Old City. Hundreds of thousands of residents have been displaced. There is a similar picture in Aleppo and other besieged areas.

This is the reality of the conflict in Syria. In the 21st century, starvation and hunger are being used as weapons of war. A regime that claims to be fighting terrorism is terrorizing its own people. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says that these are crimes against humanity.

The situation in Syria has become shockingly familiar. The numbers shame us all. There are 9.3 million people in desperate need inside Syria. Nationwide, 242,000 people are under siege, the vast majority held hostage by the regime. Around 100,000 people are trapped in and around Yarmouk Camp in the suburbs of Damascus, at severe risk of starvation. There are more than two million refugees in neighboring countries, including a staggering one million children, whose education and security have been stolen.

Some aid has now got into Homs, during a three-day ceasefire over the weekend. But it is a fraction of what is required. The regime had insisted that women, children and the elderly leave the city before the aid convoys get in. While any access for humanitarian relief is welcome, we should all be gravely concerned about the plight of those who have left the city and those who remain in Homs. Will the evacuees be protected, or will they be persecuted by the regime? Will those who remain be treated as fair game for even more devastating attacks by Assad’s security forces? The lessons of Srebrenica should haunt us all, when the deliberate separating out of women and children preceded the massacre of 8,000 men and boys.

We will soon mark the third anniversary of the Syria conflict, with no end in sight. If Assad continues to cling to power, the violence and suffering will only increase. The terrorism his brutality fuels will claim thousands more lives and increasingly threaten our own shores. We cannot stand and watch this humanitarian tragedy deepen.