A Plan for Helping Syrian Refugee Children

Last summer in the New York Times I wrote about the importance of school meals for children victimized by the war in Syria. We can do so much more for them, as we did for children in Europe and Asia affected by World War II.

Lebanon is one of the main countries where Syrians have fled to during the last five years of civil war. But once the refugees arrive they face all kinds of challenges just to have the basics of food and shelter. They have little or no resources.

Read my full commentary at The Huffington Post.

Syria Must Allow Food to Starving Civilians in Darayya

We can’t let civilians starve to death because of this tragic civil war in Syria. But right now in the town of Darayya, in Southern Syria, thousands of innocent civilians have no food or medicine.

Read my full commentary at The Huffington Post:

Syria airdrops are “glimmer of hope” in darkness of war

United Nations advisor Jan Egeland said Thursday that the World Food Programme (WFP) made two airdrops in one day of life-saving food into the besieged Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor.

Read the full article at Examiner.

Can task force ensure humanitarian aid for Syrians?

On Friday the Task Force on Humanitarian Access in Syria met in Geneva to discuss plans for bringing life-saving supplies immediately into besieged areas. There are currently 500,000 Syrians who are starving in areas blocked off by the combatants of the brutal civil war.

Read the full article at Examiner:

U.S., Russia agree on humanitarian aid, ceasefire for Syria

Secretary of State John Kerry said tonight that agreement has been reached in war-torn Syria for the delivery of live-saving humanitarian aid to civilians. Kerry stated “We have agreed to accelerate and expand the delivery of humanitarian aid beginning immediately.”

Read the full article at Examiner.

Save the Syrian Peace Talks, End the Starvation

Never again. We hear those words in reaction to atrocities committed against mankind. But we have to put actions behind those words.

Syrian civilians under siege from a civil war are trying to survive eating leaves and grass. They are pleading for the international community for help. But the war and hunger goes on.

Read the full commentary at The Huffington Post.

Kasich speaks out against food blockade in Syria

Republican presidential candidate John Kasich today spoke out against the blockade of humanitarian aid in Syria. In a town hall meeting in Atkinson, New Hampshire Governor Kasich said, “Men, women and children are dying of malnutrition” inside Syria.

Read the full article at Examiner.

Kerry remarks on Syria talks and urgent need for humanitarian aid

Secretary of State John Kerry said today it’s urgent that humanitarian access be granted to besieged areas of Syria. The warring forces continue to block food and other supplies from reaching starving civilians.

Read the full article at Examiner.

UN envoy asks Syrians to raise voice against war and hunger

The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, addressed all Syrians on Thursday ahead of peace talks to end the civil war. Syria lies in ruin from the five year conflict between the government and rebels. Famine is threatening millions.

Read the full article at Examiner.

WFP director to make speech on Syria at UN

The director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, will be making a speech about Syria before the Security Council on Wednesday. The speech will take place at 10 a.m. eastern time.

Read the full article at Examiner.

Update on Syrian peace talks and hunger crisis

The UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said today that Syrian peace talks have been delayed until Friday, January 29. The talks were scheduled to start on Monday in Geneva, Switzerland.

However, Mistura said there were disagreements on who would be invited to the talks. The peace effort aims to end the five-year civil war between the government and rebels.

Read the full article at Examiner.

Humanitarians encourage Syrian peace talks

Kerry urged an end to the five year conflict between the government and rebels. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have died, while millions more face severe food shortages.

Read the full article at Examiner.

UNICEF doctor says Syrian children need life-saving Plumpy'Nut

Deadly malnutrition is threatening Syrian children says Dr. Rajia Sharhan of UNICEF. Having just witnessed the hunger and suffering in the town of Madaya, Dr.Sharhan said yesterday "It’s becoming here more visible that malnutrition exists in the besieged areas."

Read more at Examiner. 

Syria Needs Its Own Peace of Christmas Eve

Secretary of State John Kerry says, “the time is now to stop the killing in Syria and lay the groundwork for a government that the long-suffering people of that battered land can support.”

Ending the civil war in Syria can bring relief to the over 13 million Syrians who have suffered from food and medicine shortages. Peace in Syria can rally all the necessary power to defeat the terrorist group ISIS (Daesh) which has thrived because of the chaos of the war.

Clearly we all need peace in Syria. That would be the best holiday gift for the whole world.
See my commentary at The Huffington Post.

Syria: airstrikes displace civilians, food supplies destroyed

The United Nations says that airstrikes by Syria‘s government and allies have intensified in the northwest part of the country. Also, in a report released yesterday, the Norwegian Refugee Council says relief agencies have been forced to suspend operations in these conflict zones. This at a time when civilians are most in need.

Read the full article at Examiner.

Buffalo News Oped on Syrian Refugee Crisis

We have seen the heartbreaking images of Syrians in desperate attempts to flee their war-torn homeland. All they want is to find safety in Europe, away from the conflict in the Middle East.

Thousands of Syrians each day are making this dangerous journey. They are tired, scared and hungry. What should the international community do? Start welcoming them.

Read the full article at The Buffalo News.

Sun Sentinel Oped on Syria Refugee Crisis

We have seen the heartbreaking images of Syrians in desperate attempts to flee their war-torn homeland. All they want is to find safety in Europe, away from the conflict in the Middle East.

Thousands of Syrians each day are making this dangerous journey. They are tired, scared and hungry. What should the international community do? Start welcoming them.

Read the full article at the Sun Sentinel.

Be Like Ike: Give Safe Haven to War Refugees

We have seen the heartbreaking images of Syrians in desperate attempts to flee their war-torn homeland. All they want is to find safety in Europe, away from the conflict in the Middle East.

Thousands of Syrians each day are making this dangerous journey. They are tired, scared and hungry. What should the international community do? Start welcoming them.

See the full commentary at The Huffington Post.

My Boston Globe column on hunger in Syria

The United States is deploying warplanes to Turkey to step up the fight against the Islamic State in Syria. But we cannot forget the other enemy Syrians are facing — hunger. This may be the most powerful foe of all.

The UN World Food Programme, or WFP, feeds around 4 million people inside Syria each month, but many civilians are still starving. They are trapped by the ongoing civil war, which has destroyed food production and farming.

Read the full article at The Boston Globe.

International cooperation needed to feed hungry Syrians

As Syrian refugees face increasing hunger, we can find inspiration from Egypt’s own history to meet this humanitarian emergency. It was April 1946, when the former United States president Herbert Hoover came to Cairo on an urgent mission.

Famine threatened the globe. President Harry Truman dispatched Hoover as a food ambassador.  His goal was to find food supplies that could …

Read the full article at Daily News Egypt