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Syria Amputee Children Forced to Work as they Wait for Artificial Limbs

A boy with an amputated leg in Syria. Asharq Al-Awsat
A boy with an amputated leg in Syria. Asharq Al-Awsat
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Syria Amputee Children Forced to Work as they Wait for Artificial Limbs

A boy with an amputated leg in Syria. Asharq Al-Awsat
A boy with an amputated leg in Syria. Asharq Al-Awsat

With more areas in Syria being swept by the war and thousands having been killed and wounded, especially in the northwest, children have been effected most after being deprived of their basic right to move.

Khalid al-Hussein, a 12-year-old boy, told Asharq Al-Awsat, “I was injured during a raid while going to the market with my father. My father was killed while I was severely injured and lost my foot.”

“I could not see a thing then; the smoke and dust was all that I could see at that moment. Then I found myself on a hospital bed with an amputated foot. I tried to move it a lot but couldn’t; all that I could do was cry”.

Khalid sells ice cream on the street to secure food until he receives artificial limbs.

The number of children who have lost their lives in Syria between March 2011 and March 2020 has reached 29,257 according to figures published by the Syrian Network for Human Rights, while the World Health Organization and Handicap International have documented around three million injuries during the war, including one million children, of whom, 86,000 have been amputated.

“All of my friends are playing, except for me”, says Khouloud al-Hamdan, 9, summarizing her suffering. Khouloud is one of the victims whose lives were destroyed by the raids carried out by the regime and Russia after a missile hit her house, leaving her with serious injuries.

“I wish I could play alongside my siblings and friends, but I cannot because of my injury. My dream is to have new feet so that I could move however I want”.

Dr. Mohammad al-Koli, a specialist in prosthetics, says, “We are working on producing the components [of a prosthetic] in one of our factories and are purchasing ready-made parts that cannot be produced locally from abroad. We then examine the injured child, taking measurements of their injuries.”

Al-Koli adds, “We receive all amputees who are referred to us with a prescription from the liberated areas. The cost of one prosthetic is around 700 dollars, an acceptable price when compared to the costs of imported and smart prosthetics”.

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Hezbollah’s ‘Statelet’ in Syria’s Qusayr Under Israeli Fire

Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)
Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)
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Hezbollah’s ‘Statelet’ in Syria’s Qusayr Under Israeli Fire

Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)
Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)

Israel has expanded its strikes against Hezbollah in Syria by targeting the al-Qusayr region in Homs.

Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon in September and has in the process struck legal and illegal borders between Lebanon and Syria that are used to smuggle weapons to the Iran-backed party. Now, it has expanded its operations to areas of Hezbollah influence inside Syria itself.

Qusayr is located around 20 kms from the Lebanese border. Israeli strikes have destroyed several bridges in the area, including one stretching over the Assi River that is a vital connection between Qusayr and several towns in Homs’ eastern and western countrysides.

Israel has also hit main and side roads and Syrian regime checkpoints in the area.

The Israeli army announced that the latest attacks targeted roads that connect the Syrian side of the border to Lebanon and that are used to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah.

Qusayr is strategic position for Hezbollah. The Iran-backed party joined the fight alongside the Syrian regime against opposition factions in the early years of the Syrian conflict, which began in 2011. Hezbollah confirmed its involvement in Syria in 2013.

Hezbollah waged its earliest battles in Syria against the “Free Syrian Army” in Qusayr. After two months of fighting, the party captured the region in mid-June 2013. By then, it was completely destroyed and its population fled to Lebanon.

A source from the Syrian opposition said Hezbollah has turned Qusayr and its countryside to its own “statelet”.

It is now the backbone of its military power and the party has the final say in the area even though regime forces are deployed there, it told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Qusayr is critical for Hezbollah because of its close proximity to the Lebanese border,” it added.

Several of Qusayr’s residents have since returned to their homes. But the source clarified that only regime loyalists and people whom Hezbollah “approves” of have returned.

The region has become militarized by Hezbollah. It houses training centers for the party and Shiite militias loyal to Iran whose fighters are trained by Hezbollah, continued the source.

Since Israel intensified its attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the party moved the majority of its fighters to Qusayr, where the party also stores large amounts of its weapons, it went on to say.

In 2016, Shiite Hezbollah staged a large military parade at the al-Dabaa airport in Qusayr that was seen as a message to the displaced residents, who are predominantly Sunni, that their return home will be impossible, stressed the source.

Even though the regime has deployed its forces in Qusayr, Hezbollah ultimately holds the greatest sway in the area.

Qusayr is therefore of paramount importance to Hezbollah, which will be in no way willing to cede control of.

Lebanese military expert Brig. Gen Saeed Al-Qazah told Asharq Al-Awsat that Qusayr is a “fundamental logistic position for Hezbollah.”

He explained that it is where the party builds its rockets and drones that are delivered from Iran. It is also where the party builds the launchpads for firing its Katyusha and grad rockets.

Qazah added that Qusayr is also significant for its proximity to Lebanon’s al-Hermel city and northeastern Bekaa region where Hezbollah enjoys popular support and where its arms deliveries pass through on their way to the South.

Qazah noted that Israel has not limited its strikes in Qusayr to bridges and main and side roads, but it has also hit trucks headed to Lebanon, stressing that Israel has its eyes focused deep inside Syria, not just the border.