Heart-wrenching ruin of Aleppo

THE once prosperous and populous Syrian city of Aleppo is being slow- ly reduced to a ghost town as the violence escalates between the Syrian army and the rebels.

Since the Syrian Civil War began, heart-wrenching images of the conflict have been brought to the eyes of the world.

Reports about malnourished children in Syrian refugee camps is a timely reminder of the plight of Syrian people, which is undoubtedly an unparalleled human catastrophe of this decade.

This year the UN identified 13.5 million Syrians requiring humanitarian assistance, of which more than 6 million are internally displaced within Syria, and over 4.8 million are refugees outside of Syria.

Turkey is the largest host country with over 2.7 million refugees.

This state of affairs simply cannot go on.

There is only so much that host countries can take after which we could be staring at a disaster of unprecedented proportions.

It comes as no surprise that Lebanon is imposing visa restrictions on Syrian refugees.

How can Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq possibly be expected to absorb more than 3 million refugees while more prosperous countries in the Middle East – including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – are still keeping their doors closed to Syrian refugees?

With the exception of a few countries like Germany and Sweden, the majority of Europe, the US, Canada and Australia have failed to accept any significant numbers of Syrian refugees.

It is sad to see a beautiful country with a civilisation that is hundreds of years old reduced to a shambles with no future in sight. ANNE CHACHLIN

Morningside