Child among six patients killed as Syrian artillery shells hit hospital

A child was among six patients killed when Syrian government artillery shells hit a hospital in a rebel-controlled town in the north-west of the country.

At least 14 medical staff were also injured when the shells landed at the entrance and in the courtyard of the hospital in Atareb, a town in rural western Aleppo, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The hospital is located underground, a tactic used by the opposition to avoid targeting in the conflict-prone area.

The Syrian American Medical Society, the aid group that supports the hospital, said three artillery strikes early yesterday caused extensive damage to the building, including destroying the orthopaedic clinic and knocking out the electric generators on the roof.

“The hospital has been evacuated for the moment,” said Fadi Hakim, spokesman for the Syrian American Medical Society, who added that the emergency room had also sustained damage.

Four of the injured people have been evacuated to Turkey for emergency treatment.

Among those killed were a child and a woman, according to the Syrian Civil Defence volunteers, known as the White Helmets.

A video posted on the local health directorate’s Facebook page showed debris and blood stains outside the hospital.

“The medical staff was in a state of panic,” said Omar Halaq, the director of the hospital in Atareb.

Attacks on hospitals are common in the Syrian conflict, and are mostly blamed on government and its allied forces.

Government forces knew about the hospital location, according to the Syrian American Medical Society, which had shared the coordinates of the hospital through the United Nations notification system, said partner aid organisation the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

“Health facilities are protected under international law and should be safe havens in times of crisis, but after 10 years of war this is not the case in Syria,” said Rehana Zawar, IRC country director for northwest Syria.

This is the fifth attack on health care recorded this year, IRC said, adding that facilities it supports have been attacked 24 times since 2018 alone.

The US-based Physicians for Human Rights has documented 598 attacks on at least 350 separate health care facilities in Syria since March 2011.

 

Online Editors