One United Nations agency has identified a dangerous problem threatening the lives of Syrian citizens: shisha smoking.
Speaking on May 31 at "World No Tobacco Day," an event established by the World Health Organization (WHO) to encourage people to not use tobacco, WHO's representative to Syria spoke of the urgent need to curb tobacco and hookah use among Syrian citizens, "especially among youths, women and teenage school children."
Notwithstanding the years-long sieges on their cities, notwithstanding the scourge of deadly diseases like polio and the head-chopping genocidal Daesh fanatics, notwithstanding the fact that children are starving and people are forced to eat grass and leaves and even stray cats and dogs to stay alive, the WHO stressed on May 31 at World No Tobacco Day that Syrians should be wary of smoking flavored tobacco through traditional water pipes.
Seriously.
WHO Representative to Syria Elizabeth Hoff said that "tobacco and shisha consumption endangers the health and future life of smokers and people around them," according to a June 1 press release.
According to WHO's press release, Syrian Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Ahmad Khlefawy added that "the current crisis cannot be an excuse for Syrians to endanger their lives."
Hey, Dr. Khlefawy, you know what else is endangering Syrians' lives? Your government's ongoing commitment to pulverizing their cities with a seemingly-endless barrage of shrapnel-packed barrel bombs.
Why don't you put that in your pipe and smoke it?
-Hunter Stuart
