A Syrian friend messaged me, his voice barely coherent in his grief, mourning the murder of his 10 year old cousin in al-Foua, northern Syria.

Eva, I lost my cousin today, in al-Foua. His name was Najeb Ahmad hallak. The terrorists killed him, he was just 10 years old. They shot him through his heart.

I hate this life, Eva.

Green-eyed Najeb was returning from school when sniped by western-backed “moderate” “rebels”. He was the youngest of the family.

There have been other murders of children and adults in al-Foua and Kafarya, a reported 300 since March 2015, and over 1700 since 2011, according to a resident, Dr Ali al-Moustafa, head of the sole hospital in al-Foua. Many were killed by terrorists’ mortars, rockets, missiles, hell-cannons and snipings.  Others, more recently, have succumbed to malnutrition, cold weather, a lack of medicines or medical care due to the prolonged terrorist siege…