Strikes kill 35 in Syria hospitals – MSF

A “significant increase” of air strikes on Syrian hospitals
recently has killed at least 35 patients and medical staff and
wounded 72, Doctors Without Borders said Thursday.The group said the escalating attacks began in late September,
though it did not identify who was behind them, and that 12
hospitals had been hit in Idlib, Aleppo and Hama provinces,
including six supported by MSF.
Russia began an aerial campaign in support of Syria’s
government on September 30 and has been accused by several
other medical groups of hitting hospitals and field clinics since
then.
In total, MSF said, “six hospitals were forced to close… and four
ambulances destroyed.”
“One hospital has since reopened, yet access to emergency,
maternity, paediatric and primary health care services remains
severely disrupted.”
The statement said “tens of thousands of people have been
forced to flee their homes” as a result of the attacks.
“After more than four years of war, I remain flabbergasted at
how international humanitarian law can be so easily flouted by
all parties to this conflict,” said Sylvain Groulx, MSF chief for
Syria.
In addition to Russia’s air strikes, Syria’s air force and a US-led
coalition targeting the Islamic State group are also carrying out
raids in Syria.
In recent days two medical organisations have directly accused
Russia of strikes that have hit their medical facilities.
Last week, the Syrian-American Medical Society (SAMS), said
an estimated nine Russian air strikes had hit hospitals or field
clinics in Syria, including several of its facilities.
Among them was a field clinic in the town of Sarmin in the
northwestern province of Idlib, which was hit on October 20,
killing 13 people, including a physiotherapist and a nurse,
according to SAMS.
And this week, the Union of Medical Care and Relief
Organisations NGO said three hospitals it supports had been
targeted in air strikes.
One of the facilities, in Latamneh in Hama province had been
targeted by Russian strikes on two occasions, killing ten
patients and injuring civilians and medical workers, the
confederation of medical organisations said.
More than 250,000 people have died in the Syrian war, now in its
fifth year.
More than seven million people have been displaced inside the
country and another 4.2 million have fled abroad in one of the
largest displacement crises of modern times.