Solar Energy News  
WAR REPORT
Medics shocked by surging hospital attacks: MSF chief
By Nina LARSON
Geneva (AFP) Oct 3, 2016


Former Qaeda in Syria confirms a leader killed in raid
Washington (AFP) Oct 3, 2016 - The jihadist Fateh al-Sham Front, formerly Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, confirmed Monday that an air strike had killed a senior leader, after the Pentagon said it had targeted a "prominent" Al-Qaeda figure.

"Ahmed Salama, known as Abu Faraj the Egyptian and a member of the shura (consultative council) of Fateh al-Sham Front, was martyred after a coalition air strike in the west of Idlib province," the group said in a statement on the Telegram app.

Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said a US strike had targeted a top Al-Qaeda leader on Monday, but he declined to discuss the target's identity until officials could confirm the strike was successful.

"We can confirm that we targeted a prominent Al-Qaeda member in Syria, and we are assessing the results of the operation at this time," Davis said.

"This is a prominent Al-Qaeda leader."

Ahmed Salama Mabrouk, an Egyptian also known by his nom de guerre Abu Faraj, was born in 1956 in the suburbs of Cairo and is known as a veteran Al-Qaeda leader and a commander of the Fateh al-Sham Front.

The group is a former Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria previously known as Al-Nusra Front.

It split in July from the global jihadist network founded by Osama bin Laden, in a move analysts said was aimed at easing pressure from both Moscow and Washington.

Though the Pentagon would not confirm the target was indeed Mabrouk, military officials do not consider Fateh al-Sham to truly have broken with Al-Qaeda.

"We are aware of al-Nusra's announced name change. The individuals that are there are still Nusra to us," Davis said.

"There's obviously close affiliations" to Al-Qaeda, he added.

Surging attacks on medical facilities in conflict zones have left health workers shocked beyond words, the MSF medical charity said Monday, after air strikes destroyed yet another Aleppo hospital.

"In the last 12 months, hospitals and clinics in Yemen and Syria have been destroyed at a rate that leaves the global medical community in speechless shock," said Joanna Liu, head of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF.

She was speaking at an event in Geneva marking the first anniversary of a deadly US bombing of an MSF hospital in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz that killed 42 people, including 14 of the charity's staff.

"October 3 will remain a dark day," she said, adding that Monday's event at Geneva's main hospital was aimed at expressing "sadness, dismay, and also our outrage."

She voiced particular outrage that the attacks seemed to have multiplied since Kunduz, especially in the rebel-held east of the Syrian city of Aleppo, which is besieged and under attack by the regime and its ally Russia.

Earlier Monday, air strikes destroyed eastern Aleppo's biggest hospital, which had already been hit multiple times over the past week.

"Aleppo is on fire," Liu said, decrying daily bombings of hospitals and clinics in the rebel-held east even as the government siege has made it impossible to evacuate the critically wounded.

"Hospitals must never be targets of war," she insisted, calling on participants at Monday's event to respect a minute of silence for victims of attacks on medical facilities around the world.

- 'Scary precedent' -

Kathleen Thomas, an Australian intensive care doctor who survived last year's Kunduz bombing, also slammed the "complete disregard for international humanitarian law" in Syria and Yemen.

The hospital attacks "are setting a very alarming and scary precedent for the future of conflict zones," she told AFP.

The Kunduz bombing triggered global outrage and forced President Barack Obama to make a rare apology on behalf of the US military still deployed in war-torn Afghanistan.

MSF has said the raid lasted nearly an hour and left patients burning in their beds with some victims decapitated and suffering traumatic amputations.

The organisation has branded it a war crime, but an investigation by the US military earlier this year concluded that the troops targeted the facility by mistake.

MSF has repeatedly called for an independent international inquiry, but Thomas acknowledged she had lost hope any such probe would take place.

"This is just very difficult to accept," she said, adding that she remained "haunted" by all the friends she lost a year ago.

"I knew every single one of the people who died," she said, describing "four rooms absolutely overflowing with injured staff members," many of them dying with injuries similar to the ones they themselves had been treating for weeks.

She said her grief was worsened by her knowledge that the MSF trauma centre in Kunduz remains closed, even as conflict continues to rage in the area.

"My heart just sinks at the thought that the people of Kunduz still have no trauma centre to go to," Thomas said.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Space War News






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
WAR REPORT
Turkey extends mandate for troops in Iraq, Syria
Ankara (AFP) Oct 1, 2016
Turkey's parliament on Saturday overwhelmingly approved a one-year extension of an existing mandate to use Turkish troops abroad in Syria and Iraq. The mandate was first approved by parliament in October 2014 and was renewed for another year in September 2015. It allows military action in Turkey's two southern neighbours against Islamic State jihadists and other groups deemed by Ankara ... read more


WAR REPORT
New findings by Stanford chemists could lead to greener methanol production

Liquid Manure Volume Reduced by Half

Can jet fuel be grown on trees?

Boskalis tests sustainable wood-based biofuel for marine fleet

WAR REPORT
Tech titans join to study artificial intelligence

One-eyed robot learns to see in weightlessness

Servosila Robotic Arms product line is launched by Servosila

Team of robots learns to work together, without colliding

WAR REPORT
Wind turbines a risk to birds living as far as 100 miles away

SeaRoc launches SeaHub for communication and logistic data

U.S. governors want more offshore wind support

GM commits to 100 percent renewables

WAR REPORT
VW says to pay US suppliers $1.2 bln over Dieselgate

Renault promises total cooperation in emissions probe

Volvo partnership pays off in SuperTruck collaborative effort

First test of driverless minibus in Paris Saturday

WAR REPORT
Closing in on high-temperature superconductivity

Corvus Energy selected to power new environmentally friendly UK hybrid ferry

Carbon-coated iron catalyst structure could lead to more-active fuel cells

Proton diffusion discovery a boost for fuel cell technologies

WAR REPORT
Deal signed for giant UK nuclear project

South Africa's nuclear programme kicked into touch, again

UN trims nuclear power growth forecasts

AREVA and Synatom sign a contract for the manufacture of transport and storage casks

WAR REPORT
Europe ups energy security ante

NREL releases updated baseline of cost and performance data for electricity generation technologies

Chinese giant to buy Pakistani power company for $1.6 bn

Economy of energy-hungry India may face headwinds

WAR REPORT
Gambia announces ban on imported timber, but expert sceptic

Amazon forest fire threatens natives, wildlife in Peru

Borneo loggers swap chainsaws for cheap healthcare

Indonesia, EU, announce historic deal on timber trade









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.