At least five civilians perished Sunday in Syrian regime artillery fire targeting a hospital in the northwestern town of Atareb, despite a ceasefire in effect for more than a year. year in the region, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). “Regime forces fired six shells at the town of Atareb”Located in Aleppo province, on the edge of Idlsb governorate, OSDH director Rami Abdel Rahmane told AFP.
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The strikes targeted “the courtyard and entrance to the hospital (…) located inside a cave, killing five civilians, including a child and a hospital employee“. Eleven others were injured, including health workers.
The jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Cham, the former Syrian branch of Al-Qaida, and a few rebel groups control around half of the Idleb region and adjacent segments in the neighboring provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia in northern Syria.
The region is home to around three million inhabitants, half 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 pushed nearly a million people, 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, regime forces, supported by their Russian ally, have repeatedly targeted hospitals in this last bastion hostile to Damascus, pushing local authorities to build hospitals underground or nestled in caves.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 337 attacks on medical infrastructure took place in northwestern Syria between 2016 and 2019. According to the UN, 70% of doctors and nurses fled the region to during the war years, 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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