Escalation in Syria: Deadly attacks continue, health care and access compromised
Last week’s renewed fighting led by the terrorist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other armed factions engulfed parts of Aleppo, Idlib and Hama, destabilizing the front lines. capital has not changed since 2020.
United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) Spokesman Jeremy Laurence told reporters in Geneva of “a number of extremely worrying incidents resulting in numerous civilian casualties, including large numbers of women and children, stemming from the attacks.” efforts of both HTS and pro-Government forces.”
“Hostile actions are leading to destruction and damage to civilian objects, including medical facilities, buildings housing educational institutions and food markets,” he added.
University dormitory attacked
OHCHR spokesperson said OHCHR has begun the process of verifying deadly attacks affecting civilians, including the deaths of four civilians on November 29, “attributed to multiple attacks”. HTS ground attack” hit the area where the student dormitories of Aleppo University were located. .
“According to information collected by our Office, All the victims were students at the school and many other students later fled university complex,” he added.
Aid access remains ‘flexible’
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), emphasized that the situation in the region is “fluid and constantly changing”. While OCHA operates “very solid” coordination mechanisms in Syria and across the border with the humanitarian center in Gaziantep, Türkiye, they were forced to suspend operations “due to insecurity”, because of active fighting out and many roads were closed.
However, “not the entire area is blocked,” he said. “There are still places where we can respond, such as the reception centers in Idlib” for those uprooted by violence.
According to OCHA, several 16.7 million Syrians were in need of humanitarian assistance at the beginning of 2024.
Victims of air strikes
OHCHR spokesman Mr. Laurence also highlighted an incident on December 1 in which 22 civilians were killed, including 3 women and 7 children, and at least 40 others were injured, “allegedly multiple airstrikes by pro-Government forces in Idlib” hitting local markets and five residential areas in the city.
“We remind all parties of their obligations and responsibilities under international human rights and humanitarian law: civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected,” he emphasized.
Responding to this call, United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria warned in a statement Tuesday that “the atrocities of the past years must not be allowed to repeat, otherwise Syria will be pushed into a difficult situation.” new trajectory of crime”.
Health care is overloaded
Turning to the serious health situation in the Northwest regions, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Syria, Christina Bethke, said referral hospitals, where many patients are being evacuated from Aleppo by “brave first responders” such as the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, are ” overwhelmed” with injuries.
“Thousands of injuries have been admitted in the past four days alone,” she said, while doctors and nurses “are working around the clock to save lives, even at great risk to themselves and their families, choosing to stay instead of fleeing.”
Speaking from Damascus, Ms. Bethke emphasized that “insecurity and restrictions on movement have forced some 65 NGOs previously operating in Aleppo and Idlib to temporarily suspend operations,” leaving medical facilities overloaded or no longer working.
“That includes one of Idlib’s largest hospitals, Bab al-Hawa, and Al Razi Hospital in Aleppo, both of which currently only serve emergencies and “leave countless patients in limbo.” Badger”.
Hospitals in Aleppo are almost closed
In the city of Aleppo, which has more than 2 million inhabitants, more than 100 medical facilities were operating just a week ago. “Today, fewer than eight hospitals continue to operate at minimal capacity”, Ms. Bethke said.
She added that Monday’s airstrikes in Idlib caused significant damage to healthcare facilities including the University Hospital, Maternity Hospital and local health administration.
Since November 27, WHO has received reports of at least six attacks on medical facilities in Syria. Ms. Bethke reiterated that medical facilities are protected under international humanitarian law.
The catastrophic legacy of conflict
Syria’s health system has been devastated by nearly 14 years of armed conflict and WHO officials said public health concerns were “escalating” amid the crisis, including the risk of Waterborne and respiratory diseases increase in overcrowded shelters. She emphasized that Aleppo and Idlib were the center of the cholera outbreak in Syria in 2022-2023, and the 2023 earthquake further damaged the already fragile water supply and sewerage network.
Many families in Syria have been displaced multiple times, including an estimated half a million people who entered the country from Lebanon in the past two months to flee the deadly conflict there.
Some of them had to move again due to increased fighting in the northwest and their situation became increasingly desperate as winter set in. At the start of 2024, 7.2 million people were internally displaced in Syria, nearly half of them in the northwest, where the current escalation of armed conflict poses challenges to aid delivery. life-saving aid.
