international solidarity

The following article, together with an embedded 1:36 minute video, was previously published on the English language edition of the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on 14 May. See also: Australian boxers fighting for peace in Syria (26/5/16) | SBS and other republished SANA articles: Australian sport delegation concludes visit to Lattakia (19/5/16) and Australian boxing team conducts friendly matches with Syrian national team (14/15/16).

The Australian Boxing Team visiting Syria in solidarity with its fight against terrorism conducted yesterday a series of exercises preparing for a set of matches today in Fayhaa Sports City.

Rev. David Smith, head of the Australian delegation, a boxer and a cleric, said in a statement to SANA:" We want to draw the attention of the world to the fact that Syria is alive, and there are still life and joy and sports here, not just death and destruction; which is always the message broadcasted on television. We are doing that through sport because we want to play with our friends here and build more relations with Australian and Syrian people, and we want to show the whole world the real Syria and the real Syrian people"

Smith pointed out that this is his fifth visit to Syria in the last four years, and that he is working on building relations between the Syrian and Australian people.

"We would love to see more cooperation between Syria and Australia in every level but certainly in sports, and the Syrian players are very good and strong, and can win any team in the world." Smith added.

For his part, the honorary consul of Syria in Australia Maher Dabbagh said that the Australian team includes distinguished boxers who have a heroic history in Australia, indicating that the team's visit has a significant impact on reflecting the reality of what is happening in Syria in its fight against terrorism.

Head of Syrian Boxing Federation Issa Nassar, highlighted that the Australian team's visit to Syria includes an array of games with the national team in Damascus as well as in Latakia.

The Australian Boxing Team is visiting Syria for the second time under the slogan "Boxers for Peace", joined by a media team to document the visit and sports activities, and other tourist activities to show the real image of Syria in the Australian media.

Update (4/5/15): Yemeni army, Popular Committees thwart Saudi naval attack on Aden | PressTV After the Saudi aggression on Yemen and the aerial bombardment campaign on its different regions, more than 2600 innocent lives have been lost, most of who are women, children and the elderly. The silence of the world on such an atrocity is heart breaking to say the least. To add to this, more than 4000 people have been injured who cannot receive medical treatment due to the lack of supplies in this poverty stricken country.

For current information about Yemen, see Saudi Aggression Against Yemen | PressTV. Other informative sites are RT, Sputnik International and Global Research. This article was sent to me by the [nosyriaintervention] mailing list. I am unable, at the moment, to provide a link to the original article. - Ed

With the financial and media support of the Persian Gulf countries such as Qatar, UAE and Bahrain alongside the military and armament support of America, England and the Zionist regime, the Saudi warplanes have destroyed numerous hospitals and clinics, 76 schools and centers of learning, 6 oil refineries, 1500 residential buildings and governmental institutions.

The devastation caused by the Saudis has destroyed water and electricity installations, bridges and important highways connecting different cities. This has created an immeasurable amount of difficulties in the lives of the oppressed people of Yemen which furthermore has led to the prospect of a humanitarian crisis for the residents of those cities.

Until now, numerous human rights organizations and Yemeni hospitals and clinics have declared a state of emergency and announced the urgent need for food, medicine and health supplies. The lack of electricity, food supplies and a supply of clean drinking water are among the most urgent needs.

Taking into account the widespread censorship on the news related to the people of Yemen and the multi-dimensional support of the Western and Arabian countries to these deadly attacks, it has once again become the responsibility of the people and grass roots human rights activists to make the suppressed voices of the oppressed Yemenis heard in the world. By breaking the inhumane restrictions of the media on Yemen, the people will fulfill a historic duty in the face of this humanitarian crisis, and by exposing the truth of the war mongering nature of Aale Sa’ud and America, they will stop the march towards another humanitarian disaster.

For this cause, a group of grass roots anti-war activists from different countries in the world have gathered together to condemn “Operation Decisive Storm” by announcing the creation of an international campaign with the title of “The Breeze of Mercy”. This is with the hope that the campaign can be an ointment for the deep wounds inflicted upon the nation of Yemen and a few steps of friendship towards its war inflicted people.

This international campaign will work to break the media censorship on the plight of the Yemenis, call for a stop in the continuation of this oppressive war and look to gather funds and donations from friends all over the world for the 170,000 displaced and war inflicted people of Yemen.