IFP - Western media run coverage of deadly attacks in Syria only when they can make political capital out of the incidents, and play down the massacres which do not serve their interests.





Syrian children have a strange destiny. If they fall victim to a chemical attack, their beautiful faces may shock the world. But children in Syrian towns of al-Foua and Kefraya did not know that after death, their faces would be burned and torn to pieces, and will not be attractive to anyone for that matter.

Shortly after the suspicious chemical attack on Syria’s Idlib province, US President Donald Trump said that children with beautiful faces were mercilessly killed in the brutal attack, and stressed that seeing the beautiful faces of the dead kids made him change his approach on Syria and decide to directly intervene in the country’s conflict.

It is not clear the body of whose Syrian child Trump had seen that touched him so much. Ostensibly, Trump was so deeply moved that he, before the perpetrators of the chemical incident in Idlib were identified, ordered 59 missiles to be fired on a Syrian airbase used to fight terrorists, contravening international law. But how could Trump see the images of charred and torn bodies of Shiite women and children of al-Foua and Kefraya [killed in the terrorist attack on civilians’ buses]? After being under siege for two and a half years and suffering from starvation, they were massacred by Western-backed “moderate militants.” Ironically enough, Trump had said no child should suffer from horror and fear!

More than 55,000 children have been killed in Syria’s 6-year war. But their deaths draw Western media and government’s attention only when they can cash in on the scenario for political gain. That is why the very same media outlets that kept talking about the deaths of a number of Syrian kids in the suspicious chemical attack in Idlib have now turned a blind eye to the massacre of children of Foua and Kefraya near Aleppo.

The terrorist attack on the buses carrying Shiite residents of al-Foua and Kefraya killed 118 civilians, including 68 children, and wounded over 500 others. This comes as CNN’s account of the attack described the massacre as the “killing of dozens of Bashar Assad’s supporters.” CNN also claimed the killing of civilians triggered a “hiccup” in the trend of transferring residents from Foua and Kefraya.

 

This indifference and biased reaction by the West have even drawn the ire of prominent Western experts. Minutes after news of the Foua and Kefraya attack was released, Max Abrahms, a member of George Washington University’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, wrote on his Twitter page that it is predicted the incident will not receive extensive coverage if those killed are Shiites.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange also reacted to Western media’s indifference to the massacre of Syrian Shiites. He likened the West’s backing for terrorists who it calls “moderate militants” to the Western support for Osama bin Laden in the 1990s. On his Twitter page, Assange wrote that we should not forget the “moderate militants” backed by the CIA and frequently mentioned by Western media.

Syrian children have a strange destiny. They do not know that if their deaths are to move the world and make missiles fly in retaliation, they must be beautiful, and their deaths should serve the interests of media and governments that have now turned a blind eye to the Foua and Kefraya massacre.