“Syria is a kill box” says medical NGO
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region -- Medical NGO Doctors Without Borders has decried the appalling conditions suffered by the civilian population in Syria who are the victims of multiple, competing forces bombing and starving them.
“Healthcare in Syria is in the crosshair of bombs and missiles. It has collapsed,” said Joanne Liu, International President of Doctors Without Borders, known in French as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), in a statement on their website. She called Syria a “kill box.”
MSF-supported facilities in Syria have been struck 101 times over the last 13 months. “Several were struck twice after the arrival of medical and rescue personnel. Patients have told us they’re now too afraid to go to hospitals.”
On Monday, an MSF-supported hospital in Maaret al-Numan, in northern Syria, was hit by airstrikes four times in two minutes and again forty minutes later, killing at least 25 staff and patients. A nearby hospital that received many of the wounded was also hit an hour later. Liu described this as deliberate targeting of civilians and rescue and medical personnel.
Turkey has said that Russia is responsible for the attack while Syria has blamed the US. The President of MSF France, Mego Terzian, told Reuters that they believe either Syria or Russia carried out the airstrikes.
The Syrian government indicated that some of the blame falls on MSF saying that the charity did not provide the government with details of the hospital’s location. MSF said they made the decision not to provide the hospital’s GPS coordinates to the Syrian or Russian authorities on the request of local staff.
Airstrikes on health facilities have repeatedly occurred despite providing GPS coordinates to the authorities.
France and Turkey have said that the airstrikes on medical facilities constitute war crimes. MSF has called for an immediate end to the strikes and an independent investigation.
MSF says that between 1.6 and 1.9 million Syrians are besieged, unable to escape the aerial attacks and in need of food and medical supplies.
MSF is supporting various facilities in Syria but pulled all of its own staff out of the country after five of its staff were kidnapped in January 2014. They were released several months later.
“Healthcare in Syria is in the crosshair of bombs and missiles. It has collapsed,” said Joanne Liu, International President of Doctors Without Borders, known in French as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), in a statement on their website. She called Syria a “kill box.”
MSF-supported facilities in Syria have been struck 101 times over the last 13 months. “Several were struck twice after the arrival of medical and rescue personnel. Patients have told us they’re now too afraid to go to hospitals.”
On Monday, an MSF-supported hospital in Maaret al-Numan, in northern Syria, was hit by airstrikes four times in two minutes and again forty minutes later, killing at least 25 staff and patients. A nearby hospital that received many of the wounded was also hit an hour later. Liu described this as deliberate targeting of civilians and rescue and medical personnel.
Turkey has said that Russia is responsible for the attack while Syria has blamed the US. The President of MSF France, Mego Terzian, told Reuters that they believe either Syria or Russia carried out the airstrikes.
The Syrian government indicated that some of the blame falls on MSF saying that the charity did not provide the government with details of the hospital’s location. MSF said they made the decision not to provide the hospital’s GPS coordinates to the Syrian or Russian authorities on the request of local staff.
Airstrikes on health facilities have repeatedly occurred despite providing GPS coordinates to the authorities.
France and Turkey have said that the airstrikes on medical facilities constitute war crimes. MSF has called for an immediate end to the strikes and an independent investigation.
MSF says that between 1.6 and 1.9 million Syrians are besieged, unable to escape the aerial attacks and in need of food and medical supplies.
MSF is supporting various facilities in Syria but pulled all of its own staff out of the country after five of its staff were kidnapped in January 2014. They were released several months later.