Children Hit By Rocket Shells in Syria
BALDWIN: We have a horrifying story today of children in the war in Syria allegedly being tortured at the hands of the Syrian government. So I want you to just first listen to this. This United Nations report today is charging that, quote, "children as young as nine years of age have been victims of killing, maiming, arbitrary arrests, detention, torture and ill treatment, including sexual violence and abuse as human shields." Again, this is from a U.N. report released just today. Now, I want you to hold that thought. We're going to talk a little bit more about that report in just a moment. But I want now, if you would, just consider this. Consider your own children. Should they be in the room right now because the clip we're about to air might not be right for them to see. So just a little context before we show it. We got the video this morning. We have concerned its authenticity. And after a great deal of discussion, decided we -- we decided we needed to air this because it illustrates the atrocities occurring each and every day in Syria's brutal war. Just one more warning, this is tough to watch. But let's roll it, because this is amateur video there recently shot in the Alepo province. And what you're seeing here, not just one, but two toddlers. It's tough to look at. Clearly wounded. We're told three children were there in that particular room. And, sadly, I can tell you that two of the children died, as did a man and a woman. Their mortal wounds were caused by government shelling. And keep in mind, this is the only portion of the video we have elected to air. It's tough to look at, but it tells the story. Joining me now from Washington, Hala Gorani of CNN International. And, Hala, I'm almost speechless, because there really aren't words to describe the images that we just aired. I want to go back to this U.N. report that was released today and I just want to quote it a little bit further because it speaks of the children as young as 14 years of age being tortured while in detention. I want to quote. "Most child victims of torture describe being beaten, blindfolded, subjected to stress position, whipped with heavy electric cables, scarred by cigarette burns and, in one reported case, subjected to electrical shock to the genitals."</s>HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL: Right.</s>BALDWIN: I mean we're talking about kids. What in the world?</s>GORANI: Right. Yes. Well, what in the world. That's a good question. It's something that's shocking people and observers of conflict zones. We've covered wars. We've covered civil conflicts in the past over the last several years. And even the U.N.'s special representative for children in conflict zones is calling this absolutely extraordinary. That is her word. Her adjective to describe the situation, "extraordinary." I had an opportunity to speak with her just about an hour ago about this report. It's an annual report, by the way, for the U.N. secretary-general on children in conflict zones. There is that portion of the report on Syria, some of which you just read there. Here's what she told me about the extent of the horror faced by Syrian children every day. Listen.</s>RADHIKA COOMARASWAMY, U.N. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE: We've never seen this scale of torture. All the scale -- the 49 children under the age of 10, some were really executed. No, I don't think I've seen that anywhere else.</s>GORANI: As you say, it's not something that's seen in other conflict zones and the worst types of war zones. What specifically do you think about this conflict is making it -- is making it so deadly for children?</s>COOMARASWAMY: Well, I think what has happened is the line between civilian and combatants has become completely blurred. And basically whole communities are being attacked. And, you know, in international humanitarian law, for us absolutely the distinction between a combatant and who is a civilian is the basis of that law. But where you attack whole community, the women, the children, the men, then that's going completely against humanitarian principles. And that is what is happening where the community is being attacked and terrorized.</s>GORANI: Radhika Coomaraswamy there talking to me earlier. And, Brooke, what's important to note is that this report is highlighting the idea that, you know, kids are caught in the crossfire in conflict zones. That happens. It's expected. But in this case, there are specifically targeted. They are being tortured. And, in some instances, they are being used as human shields. There were reports from witnesses that kids were forcibly removed from their homes and were used in a bus, used by military personnel, put in the window so that rebels wouldn't shoot the bus, wouldn't target the bus itself because they could see the children were inside.</s>BALDWIN: Because of the children. Because of the children.</s>GORANI: Right. So this is a new level of horror. And new absolutely other level that we hadn't seen in any conflict zone before as far as kids are concerned.</s>BALDWIN: You know, we've been covering this story for 15 or so months. I feel like it's long since past that point of violating, you know, humanitarian principles and rules. And then we hear -- I was talking to Richard Roth at the United Nations at the top of the show saying that, you know, a U.N. peacekeeping chief was talking to wire reporters and essentially saying that the situation there has dissolved into this state of civil war. Those were his words. When I hear civil war, I fear that this becomes even worse, including worse with the kids.</s>GORANI: Well, the fact that it's been a civil conflict in some pockets in Syria has been the case on the ground. We've heard it from witnesses. We've heard it as well from the accounts of U.N. observers. There is clear sectarian violence directed at some Sunni villages. And, according to them, and according to witnesses from some of the Alawite neighbor villages. So around in the Homs province and in other areas in Syria. So that is no surprise. The question is going to be right now, are we going to descend into a full scale civil war. That isn't the case yet in Syria. In other words, the whole country is not in a state of war. But there is a definite situation right now where in some pockets controlled by the rebels, there are sectarian attacks that are being organized by the Shabiha and the Syrian army and massacres as we've seen.</s>BALDWIN: Right.</s>GORANI: But on the same day, which is interesting, Hillary Clinton is now saying that Russia is supplying arms that are being used to sort of fight rebel fighters -- fight against rebel fighters in this civil conflict. Something that Putin has denied. So there are several angles and layers to this story coming out all on the same day.</s>BALDWIN: Hala Gorani, thank you. They watch as their homes are being destroyed here by this massive wildfires. Colorado firefighters are doing pretty much everything they can, but the flames are spreading just too quickly. Look at these pictures. I-reports we've been getting. We're going to talk with one man behind this camera who saw the approaching wall of fire and smoke.