Baladi News
A Russian conductor led a triumphant concert Thursday in the ruins of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, even as an airstrike on a refugee camp in Idlib north of Syria left at least 30 people dead and dozens wounded, including many children.
The performance is called "A Prayer for Palmyra" — was intended to send a message that Russia's presence in Syria would bring hope and stability.
But even as strains of Bach and Sergei Prokofiev's First Symphony echoed through the Roman theater packed with an audience that included Russian soldiers, Syrian government ministers and children in colorful native dress, the war raged elsewhere !
Images posted on social media of the aftermath of the airstrike that tore through the Sarmada camp in rebel-held territory close to the border with Turkey showed tents burned to the ground, charred bodies, and bloodied women and children being loaded onto a pickup truck.
The camp hosts 2,000 internally displaced people who had taken shelter from the fighting in nearby Aleppo and Hama provinces over the past year.
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Philip Hammond said: “Reports of the bombing of a refugee camp in Samarda this evening are horrifying. The Assad Regime’s contempt for efforts to restore the cessation of hostilities in Syria is clear for all to see.
"This attack took place against the backdrop of a concert in Palmyra, a tasteless attempt to distract attention from the continued suffering of millions of Syrians. It shows that there are no depths to which the regime will not sink. It is time for those with influence over Assad to say enough is enough.”
The ceremony comes at a time when thousands of Syrians die because of the Russian and Syrian shelling , as if the world is celebrating and rejoicing at their deaths.