Over the last few days the corporate media has focused on the Syrian town of Madaya in the countryside outside of Damascus. Reports say the Syrian government has laid siege to the town of 40,000 people and is forcing starvation on the residents.
Aid for starving Syrian town #Madaya delayed for ‘logistical reasons’ https://t.co/0pUCEMVplz pic.twitter.com/RkFipiV8Yi
— ABC News (@abcnews) January 10, 2016
Bashar al-Assad supporters taunt starving Syrians in Madaya with pictures of food https://t.co/zlc23GhMCN pic.twitter.com/a1oRPnoxzo — The Telegraph (@Telegraph) January 9, 2016
Thousands of people in Madaya, Syria are at risk of starvation. “There is no way in or out.” https://t.co/W18ZVoblJq pic.twitter.com/yGuLHW5gxT
— ABC News (@ABC) January 9, 2016
“Thousands of people are dying from starvation inside two besieged towns in Syria. In line with their usual tactics, Bashar al-Assad’s forces and Hizbollah are wielding the weapon of hunger against Madaya and Zabadani,” The Telegraph reports. The Telegraph and the corporate media claim to offer objective reporting from sources in Syria, and yet do not cover reports stating the Isalamist groups Ahrar al-Sham and al-Nusra are responsible for starving the people of Madaya.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has issued a statement saying it cannot confirm the images posted on social media of starving children in Madaya and other cities. Despite this lack of confirmation, the media in the West continues to report the Syrian Army and Hezbollah are responsible. Sources tell al-Manar the Islamists are responsible for starvation in the city, not the Syrian Army. Al-Manar is a Lebanese satellite television station affiliated with Hezbollah.
Take #Madaya: the town is occupied by Al-Nusra and Ahrar Al-Sham, both terrorist groups but it’s #Assad who’s starving the people… — Enrico Ivanov (@Russ_Warrior) January 9, 2016
Ahrar Al Sham must be pressured to allow the civilians to escape #Madaya
— Partisangirl (@Partisangirl) January 9, 2016
People in #Madaya are besieged, but the media won’t tell u the town is infested by Ahrar al Sham, which is also starving Fuoa and Kafraya. — Partisangirl (@Partisangirl) January 9, 2016
The same sources noted that according to [the] Zabadani agreement [a UN mediated ceasefire], scores of trucks that hold humanitarian aids are scheduled to be sent to the town in January and that dozens of trucks that convey medical and food stuffs, which match the locals’ needs for months, were sent to Madaya, adding that the terrorist groups confiscated them and sold them to the inhabitants.
Omitted by CNN, BBC, al-Arabiya, al-Jazeera, SkyNews, al-Nahar, Turk Press and several other Saudi and western-affiliated news media are reports from the towns of Foua’a, Kafria in Idlib and al-Zahra and Nubl in Aleppo where the Jaish al-Fatah—a terror group linked to al-Nusra, Ahrar ash-Sham, and Jund al-Aqsa, al-Qaeda and reportedly the Islamic State—is attacking thousands of Shiites. Earlier this week Jaish al-Fatah attacked Foua’a with Grad missiles, but this was not reported by the corporate media.
The so-called coalition led by the United States is on record as targeting food. In September, 2014 air strikes hit grain silos in northern and eastern Syria, killing civilians.
The corporate media echoed the Pentagon and issued a now typical disclaimer for the action: “The aircraft may have mistaken the mills and grain storage areas in the northern Syrian town of Manbij for an Islamic State base.”
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