At least six civilians perished Sunday in strikes by the Syrian regime that hit a hospital in the town of Atareb, in northwestern Syria, despite the ceasefire in force in the region, according to the Observatory Syrian Human Rights (OSDH).
“Regime forces launched six shells on the town of Atareb” located in Aleppo province, on the edge of Idleb governorate, OSDH director Rami Abdel Rahmane told AFP. The strikes hit “the courtyard and the entrance to the hospital (…) located inside a cave, killing six civilians, including a child and a hospital employee”. Eleven other people were injured, including health workers.
Senior UN humanitarian official Mark Cutts called the attack “alarming” while the International Rescue Committee (IRC) condemned it, adding that it is the fifth attack on human beings. medical facilities in the area since the beginning of the year. “Health facilities are protected by international law and should provide safe havens in times of crisis,” said Rehana Zawar, IRC director for northwestern Syria.
For its part, the official agency Sana reported in the afternoon of a civilian death and three others injured in the fall of shells fired by anti-Damascus groups on a district of the city of Aleppo. , without providing further details.
The jihadist group Hayat Tahrir el-Cham, the former Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, and a few rebel groups control around half of the Idleb region and adjacent segments in the provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia in northern Syria. The region is home to around three million inhabitants, two-thirds of whom have been displaced from other regions recaptured by the regime.
In March 2020, a precarious truce came into effect – after a three-month offensive that displaced nearly a million people further north, according to the UN – sponsored by Russia, a staunch ally of Damascus, and Turkey, which supports rebel groups. Despite repeated violations, including Russian airstrikes on the region, the ceasefire was maintained within a year.
In the past, the regime’s forces, supported by their Russian ally, have repeatedly targeted hospitals in this last great jihadist and rebel stronghold, pushing the local authorities to set up hospitals underground or nestled in caves. According to the World Health Organization, 337 attacks on medical infrastructure took place in northwestern Syria between 2016 and 2019. According to the UN, 70% of doctors and nurses fled Syria in the past ten years. years of war, while only half of the medical facilities are still operational.
Triggered in 2011 by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations by the Damascus regime, the war in Syria has left more than 388,000 dead and millions displaced.
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At least six civilians perished Sunday in strikes by the Syrian regime that hit a hospital in the town of Atareb, in northwestern Syria, despite the ceasefire in force in the region, according to the Observatory Syrian Rights of Man (OSDH). “Regime forces launched six shells on the town of Atareb” located in the province of Aleppo, bordering the governorate of Idleb, …
