Newborn baby 'found dead, suffocated' among rubbish in northwest Syria: reports

A newborn girl was found dead on Thursday near piles of rubbish in Syria’s Aleppo province, according to reports.

The body was found in a courtyard near residential buildings in the Mahmudiya neighbourhood of Afrin city, before being transferred by the Syrian Civil Defence, otherwise known as the White Helmets, to a local forensic department.

Forensic specialists confirmed that the newborn had been suffocated before her body was brutally thrown, The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

Several newborns have been found dumped in northwestern Syria since the beginning of this year, many dead or seriously ill, according to the Syrian Response Coordinators, a Turkey-based NGO.

Last year, nine newborns were abandoned in northwest Syria, according to a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor.

انتشلت فرقنا، اليوم الخميس 22 أيلول، جثة طفلة حديثة الولادة من فناء بين أبنية سكنية في حي المحمودية في منطقة #عفرين شمالي #حلب، ونقلتها إلى الطبابة الشرعية في مدينة عفرين.#الخوذ_البيضاء pic.twitter.com/V5GyRz4FV6

— الدفاع المدني السوري (@SyriaCivilDefe) September 22, 2022

Calling the incident "shocking and painful", the White Helmets told The New Arab that the circumstances behind the abandonment were not yet clear.

However, it said desperate living conditions caused by war and displacement were likely a factor.

Lawyer Othman Al-Ahmad told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said births in the region must be better registered, to facilitate follow-up checks on babies and mothers.

Syria has been embroiled in a brutal conflict since 2011, when the Assad regime pursued a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy activists.

Over 500,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced since.