MSF: Syrian airstrikes hit multiple hospitals, 35 dead, 72 wounded

The international medical charity Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French name Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said Thursday that an onslaught of airstrikes on hospitals over the past month in Syria have killed at least 35 patients and medical staff and wounded 72. 

The airstrikes have escalated since September and have targeted twelve hospitals, including six MSF hospitals throughout October in Syria’s northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, the organization said. 

Six hospitals have been forced to close as a result of the bombings, including three MSF hospitals. Four ambulances have also been destroyed.

One of the hospitals reopened, but access to emergency, maternity, pediatric and primary health care services remains severely disrupted. 

MSF did not specify who was behind the airstrikes, but the regions that have been hit are areas where Russian airstrikes have largely been taking place since Sept. 30. Syrian government jets have also continued to carry out airstrikes. 

News of the uptick in hospital strikes comes roughly one month after a U.S. airstrike hit an MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan and two days after another MSF hospital was bombed in Yemen. 

“After more than four years of war, I remain flabbergasted at how International Humanitarian Law can be so easily flouted by all parties to this conflict,” said Sylvain Groulx, Head of MSF for Syria. “We can only wonder whether this concept is dead. So many humanitarians and health actors including MSF have repeatedly called and are calling for an immediate halt to such attacks across the country, but are our voices being heard?”

This week the Russian Defense Ministry summoned military attaches of the U.S., NATO and Saudi Arabia to explain allegations that Moscow has been bombing civilian targets in Syria after several reports accused the Kremlin of targeting at least three hospitals in the region.