Home » Syria, government attack on hospital in the north-west: at least 5 dead

Syria, government attack on hospital in the north-west: at least 5 dead

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BEIRUT. Artillery shells fired from government areas hit a hospital in a rebel-controlled city in northwestern Syria, killing at least five civilians and injuring medical personnel, rescuers and activists. The bullets landed at the entrance and courtyard of the hospital in Atarib, a town in rural western Aleppo, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The blast killed at least five civilians, including a child and a woman, and injured medical personnel, according to Syrian Civil Protection volunteers, known as White Helmets. A video posted on the local health directorate’s Facebook page shows debris and bloodstains at the hospital entrance.

Fadi Hakim, a spokesman for the Syrian American Medical Society, which supports the hospital, said the orthopedic clinic and emergency room were destroyed. “The hospital has been evacuated for the time being,” he said. Hakim said he could only confirm four deaths, including a child, and 15 injured, five of them among medical personnel.

Attacks on hospitals are common in the Syrian conflict and are mostly attributed to the government and allied forces. Health Directorate in the rebel-controlled Northwest said Sunday’s attack was the first on a medical facility in the region since February 2020. US-based Doctors for Human Rights documented 598 attacks on at least 350 separate health facilities in Syria since March 2011, the vast majority allegedly committed by the Syrian government and allied forces, including Russia. In the same 10-year period, at least 930 health workers were killed, the rights group said.

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