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UNICEF says no more words to describe children suffering in Syria

February 21, 2018 at 3:21 am

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has issued a blank statement on Tuesday, expressing anger at the killing of a large number of children in the besieged Eastern Ghouta and Damascus.

“No words will do justice to the children killed, their mothers, their fathers and their loved ones” UNICEF’s regional director, Geert Cappelaere said at the beginning of the statement.

The statement then had ten blank lines with quote marks indicating missing text.

A note accompanied the statement read “UNICEF is issuing this blank statement. We no longer have the words to describe children’s suffering and our outrage. Do those inflicting the suffering still have words to justify their barbaric acts?”.

Forces loyal to Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad have been surrounding some 400,000 civilians in eastern Ghouta for years, but the blockade has intensified this year and attacks on the region have increased with indiscriminate attacks on internationally agreed civilian areas.

Read: 30 children killed in Syria’s East Ghouta this year reports UNICEF

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that forces loyal to the Syrian regime launched air raids on the eastern Ghouta last night and early in the morning adding that “more than 100 people were killed in air strikes on Monday”.