Stamford, U.S.A. – AmeriCares is rushing a delivery of emergency medical aid for families fleeing the violence in Syria. An air shipment containing antibiotics, wound care supplies, pain relievers and other critically needed medical aid is expected to arrive in Jordanthis week where it will be delivered to a partner organization providing medical care for 30,000 Syrian refugees who have fled for safety.

The shipment also contains medicines for refugees who have diabetes, respiratory problems and other chronic health conditions. Nearly 40,000 Syrian refugees are currently registered in Jordan, although the actual refugee population is believed to be as high as 150,000. The refugee crisis has intensified in recent days with the mass exodus from Aleppo, a city that once housed a population of 2.5 million people, due to the escalation in fighting between the Syrian government and rebels.

“With tens of thousands of people flooding densely populated urban areas and tent camps in Jordan, the aid organizations on the ground are struggling to meet the demand for primary care services,” said AmeriCares Director of Emergency Response Garrett Ingoglia. “This emergency aid shipment is meeting an urgent request for the most basic medical supplies. Refugees are particularly susceptible to disease and face increased health risks because disease can spread rapidly in crowded living conditions.”

AmeriCares, through its Medical Outreach Program, also supplied medical aid to an Indiana physician who recently traveled to Turkey to aid Syrian refugees injured in the conflict. Dr. Ammar Ghanem, a Syrian-born intensive care unit doctor from Fort Wayne, spent three weeks working in Turkey in the spring and early summer providing medical care to Syrian refugees and patients with gunshot wounds and traumatic brain injuries crossing the borders. He used medications and supplies donated by AmeriCares to help stop bleeding in some patients, as well as to suture wounds and treat infections.

AmeriCares has been delivering critically needed medicines and relief supplies to the Middle East for more than 25 years in response to civil conflict as well as humanitarian crises.

Image Courtesy of  homeros / Shutterstock.com

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Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has confirmed his defection from Al Assad’s government and that he is in Jordan, thus refuting the Syrian media which has suggested that he was dismissed by Al Assad.

“I announce today my defection from the killing and terrorist regime, and I announce that I have joined the ranks of the freedom and dignity revolution,” Hijab said in a statement read by his spokesman, Muhammed el-Etri, according to Al Jazeera. “I announce that I am from today a soldier in this blessed revolution.”

Hijab, former Minister of Agriculture, was elected prime minister in June after the parliamentary elections. Syrian authorities said this was a decisive step towards the path of democracy, while the opposition denounced it as a fraud.

Apparently, the now former Syrian prime minister has left the country along with at least two ministers and three military officers.

Hijab is thus added to the growing list of defectors, becoming the highest-ranking official to defect from Bashar Al-Assad’s government since the beginning of the uprising. It all started with the Oil Deputy Minister Abdo Houssameddine, who announced on March 8 his desertion and became the first government men to join the opposition.

Diplomats such as the Syrian ambassador in Iraq, his counterpart in the United Arab Emirates, and four deputies have also crossed the border to join the revolution since civil war started.

Hundreds of soldiers, including senior military personnel have also turned their back on Assad’s regime.

According to The Guardian, “Hijab’s defection had been planned for more than two months” but the actual implementation of the plan had be “delayed on many occasions.” Haaretz Israeli newspaper reports that “Hijab had started to plan how he would defect from the first day that he was appointed as prime minister.”

Omar Ghalawanji, a local government minister, has been appointed to take on Hijab’s office at the moment, official Syrian television announced.

The United States believes that the defection of Syria’s prime minister shows that President Assad grip on power is loosening: “This is the latest indication that Assad has lost control of Syria and that the momentum is with the opposition forces and the Syrian people,” says Tommy Vietor, the National Security Council spokesman.

“It’s clear that these defections are reaching the highest levels of the Syrian government and demonstrate that the Syrian people believe Assad’s days are numbered,” Vietor continued.

The news on Hijab’s defection was released just hours after a bomb ripped through the state TV building in the capital Damascus.

Image Courtesy of  jan kranendonk / Shutterstock.com

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