An X-ray of a fetus with a bullet in its brain has revealed how gunmen are taking aim at pregnant women in the war-torn country.
A volunteer surgeon, who has recently returned from Syria, described the “hell beyond hell” of the shooters’ war-game.
David Nott, who spent five weeks in a Syrian hospital, described how more than half a dozen pregnant women were shot in just one day.
On another day, two consecutive patients were expectant mothers.
Both survived but their unborn babies were dead on arrival.
“The women were all shot through the uterus, so that must have been where they were aiming for,” he told The Times.
“I can”™t even begin to tell you how awful it was.”
Mr Nott has previously worked in war zones in Bosnia, Libya, Chad, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
His visit to Syria was supported by charities Syria Relief, Hand in Hand for Syria, and the Syrian British Medical Society.
He added: “Usually, civilians are caught in the crossfire. This is the first time I”™ve ever seen anything like this.
“This was deliberate. It was hell beyond hell.”
Mr Nott revealed he’d heard how snipers were “winning packets of cigarettes for hitting the correct number of targets”.
He described how locals believe the gunmen are mercenaries from China and Azerbaijan, working for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Mr Nott is believed to count ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair as a former patient from his day job at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
He urged world leaders to stop talking and begin to act over Syria’s humanitarian crisis.
Under a deal brokered between Russia and America, President Assad has agreed to hand over his arsenal of chemical weapons.
A nerve gas attack in the capital Damascus earlier this year is believed to have killed 1,429 people – 426 of which were children.
Mr Nott revealed how hard it is to enter rebel-controlled areas in order to aid civilians caught up in the bloodshed.
“There needs to be development of a humanitarian corridor, so people can come in, do a job and go out again, without being threatened.
“If you could change anything in this awfulness, that would be it.
“The UN need to get off their butts. Rather than talking about it, make it safe for people to help.”
Hell beyond hell: Syria snipers use unborn babies as target practice
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