To survive the war in Syria in areas that have been under attack does not mean long term survival and life back as it was. The revelation that depleted uranium has been used in the battlegrounds in Syria, will surely lead to a silent death in areas under the control and command of the criminal organisation Daesh. For this I, Dante, a Syrian refugee make my concerns known to the world. I am in pain enough with all that has been lost in this war. Families, loved ones, neighbours and my home town Deir Ezzor lost to the oppression of both Assad and Daesh. My motherland now a land of pain and suffering. But now we have to fear the future of our people and the future generations from the long term effects of the weapons used in warfare. It has now been confirmed that the US armed forces have used 5265 ammunition rounds containing depleted uranium in two special targeting Daesh held areas with targets of the oil tankers and oil reserves. This confuses who is the enemy or are we to see that man is the enemy of himself in the use of such weapons
It has been revealed that this ammunition has been used in two separate operations carried out one of 16 November of 2015 in four attacks by A-10 aircraft 1490 rounds of ammunition were fired. The ammunition were 30-millimeter calibre and released alongside bombs and missiles. Their targets destroyed that of 46 said to be armoured vehicles carrying Daesh criminals, “while the second operation was carried out in 22nd of November of the same year” by 4 attack aircraft A-10 launched 3775
“The Syria air raids, carried out in mid and late November 2015, targeted oil convoys in ISIL-held territory near al-Hassakah, and Deir Ez-Zour. Four A-10 warthog fixed-wing aircraft were used, ultimately resulting in the destruction of over 330 vehicles” ref: Greenleigh, I. on aVeterans Today website post
The report does not highlight whether the strikes were carried out near the populated areas. However, US military officials announced at that time on the implementation of operations targeting the infrastructure for “Daesh” in Syria it included land in the Deir al-Zour province on 16 November, in the province of al Hassakah on the 22nd of the same month. The areas under Daesh control have trapped besieged communities of local people. Innocent civilians that have been unable to escape the claws of both monsters Daesh and the Assad regime
The use of this dangerous weapon is likely to affect all around in a wide radius of the attack depending on the winds at the time and air displacement generated by the explosions. Depleted uranium is a derivative of natural uranium, and packaged in a type of bomb cassette fired from guns or released from fighter aircraft, and has a high capacity to penetrate concrete and armoured vehicles. When depleted uranium shells are used against tanks, the damage appears as if a sharp knife had passed through butter. This is the intensity of the design and impact. The added chemical reaction is pyrogenic and ignites into intense flames with this released into the air is uranium oxide. The particles of which can be inhaled by any living being in the resulting debris. The radioactivity causes cancer and many other diseases. When depleted uranium shells hit the target the resulting fire is at such high temperatures and such intensity as to, not only emit uranium emit ultrafine particles in the atmosphere, but the soil around is baked with these microscopic particles compacted forever in the ground. So both Earth and air is contaminated. Others that have used depleted uranium weapons for at least 15 years – the American, British, Russian and Israelis The systems have been exported to more than twenty countries. It is favoured as an effective weapons because of it being a high density metal. The design to exert high kinetic energy for its size and has the property to generate enough heat to ignite its target. With this destroying normally impenetrable armour. The design is increases the effects of combustion. The intent to vaporise the targets with little or no evidence left behind.
My concern is in the seriousness of the use of uranium in Syria is that the targets have been said to be “Daesh” targets and their areas of station and command. But that command and soldiers have been and continue to be in residential areas with entrapped civilians within the cities of Raqqa and Deir al-Zour, These areas have experienced large volumes of civilian losses. Already a crime against humanity but what of the lasting consequences on the remaining survivors
There has been no discrimination between Daesh targets and civilians in the use of these weapons. Even if the target was a clear hit, the outflow of contamination can reach nearby civilians. The radioactive dust from the explosion is the problem and can reach a wide radius in winds. The dust if inhaled by civilians are poisoned and at major risk of radiation sickness and cancer. The disastrous results: exposure to depleted uranium is to cause damage to public health, it can seep into the human body through inhalation of small particles of it. The animals too are at risk and so livestock and food chains are affected. The affect is to create medical conditions, including cancer diseases, Cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and digestive system as well as neurological and psychiatric disorders, degeneration of the immune system. The further worry is that depleted uranium can cause damage the chromosomes, leading to birth defects. There has been a case of a newborn with birth defect that has come over the border to Turkey from the areas that had been targeted. So some evidence beginning to show
In existing data from previous offensives there is a reported incidences of male subfertility from Israeli data on using these weapons on Gaza. The attack somewhat backfired on the attackers with the wind wafting the dust to Israel where men now experience low sperm counts. Source: http://www.fringemedia.net/depleted-uranium-the-true-price
There is medical data from Iraq and Press TV highlight this in the online report of the 15th February.. http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/02/15/510642/US-used-genocidal-DU-weaponry-Syria
The worrying fact now is how long the affected areas will remain contaminated. For the towns of Deir al-Zour, al-Hassakah), the effects dangerous to humans and the environment will be experienced for some time
“The combination of Armoured Piercing Incendiary (DU) rounds mixed with High Explosive Incendiary rounds was used to ensure a higher probability of destruction of the truck fleet ISIL was using to transport its illicit oil,” spokesman Maj. Josh T. Jacques said in a statement
The worry is now with the new US administration that will there be more attacks and this weaponry used. Josh Jacques spokesman for the military forces in the Middle East has been reported to say that The United States may use those bombs again against the jihadists, if necessary, and we will continue to take all options into account “in order to defeat Daesh.” This includes “bombs, depleted uranium! The head of the international coalition calls to ban uranium weapons, Doug Weir reporter said, “that it is difficult to Find a military justification for the use of depleted uranium munitions against oil tankers, depending on the arguments resorted to by the United States to justify the reasons for their use of these munitions to destroy armoured targets. ” He said “The carriers were not armoured, so it was incendiary and highly munitions explosion sufficient to do the job.”
This statement has sent a shock wave through the Syrians population and to their Iraqi neighbours. Neighbours, who are suffering from the repercussions of its use during the 2003 Iraq war. The United States must bear responsibility human and moral repercussions of the use of this type of weapon, which is on the list of weapons of mass destruction in violation of international treaties. Responsibility and accountability must be brought, after recording several cases and confirmation of congenital and symptoms already beginning to appear in the east of the Syrian areas
The major point from this report is not only the long term health detrimental effects but this also continues to be a war crime against humanity. This is highlighted by PressTV. “ According to weapons experts, the use of depleted uranium is a war crime, a crime against humanity, and an act of genocide, because the civilian population’s exposure to depleted uranium causes genetic damage, birth defects, cancer, immune system damage, and other serious health problems
They go on to highlight that we had data from the Gulf war on to the harmful effects of these weapons not only on the targets but the soldiers and the civilians in the region. To quote the PressTV article: “In 2003, the US military fired hundreds of thousands of rounds in densely populated areas during the invasion of Iraq, causing a sharp rise in congenital birth defects, cancer, and other serious health problems.” The Iraqi government had expressed “its deep concern over the harmful effects” of the controversial material.” A UN report on depleted uranium released in 2014 said weapons containing DU “constitute a danger to human beings and the environment” and called on the United Nations to conduct in-depth studies on their effects.
According to Iraqi doctors and many international health scientists found, the use of DU weapons in Iraq caused the outbreak of diseases that were not previously seen in the country, such as new illnesses in the kidney, lungs, and liver, as well as total immune system collapse
We have to then conclude – what is man doing to even think of these weapons? What mind creates these weapons with all the mayhem and criminality behind them? What mind orders them to be used? This is more than using a sledgehammer approach to issues of conflicting ideologies and deluded power struggles, it does not create resolution to problems rather creates more problems on a grand scale for generations to come. We have to stop and think and examine our conscious and ask have we truly evolved as human beings? How can we justify robbing people of their lives and future in wellness, more so how can we justify robbing our future generations of this planet, a home a place of beauty and a place that life should be lived in peace and harmony