WASHINGTON — They are renewed airstrikes that caught the attention of the State Department, and ended the life of an orphaned second-grader. He was at home playing with a friend from school, when the concrete fell around him.
“Seeing the photos, you can see the joy is just robbed from their eyes,” said DC-based activist Mouaz Moustafa, founder of the Syria Emergency Task Force. “We lost one of our students, and we also had another young girl who was injured with the bombardment.”
Moustafa established a school for orphans in Syria’s beleaguered Idlib Province – a school for 150 children, known as the Wisdom House.
A Russian airstrike killed a former Wisdom House student, identified by family and teachers as Ahmad. The missile attack also severely injured his fellow classmate, identified by her guardians as Leinda.
The strikes in support of Syria’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad, forced the Wisdom House to close this weekend.
Moustafa now fears his school could close indefinitely, along with a nearby women’s center he founded in the war-torn rebel stronghold.
“For me, it's a feeling of helplessness,” Moustafa said in an interview Monday. “But at the same time, doing and hoping and praying that we can do everything we can to keep them safe, and hopefully re-open the school, and bring back joy into their lives.”
The new airstrikes also hit a Turkish military convoy within Syria’s borders, escalating tensions and drawing condemnation from Washington.
“The Assad regime and its allies must return to the ceasefire in #Idlib now,” wrote State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus on Twitter.
“Today’s reckless airstrike on a Turkish convoy follows ongoing vicious attacks against civilians, humanitarian workers, and infrastructure. We condemn this violence and it must end.”