Syria: Civilians under relentless attack

In a report issued, MSF details the toll of the conflict on civilians, based on data from 70 hospitals and clinics that MSF supports in north-western, western and central Syria.

In all, 154,647 war-wounded people and 7,009war-dead were documented in the facilities in 2015, with women and children representing 30 to 40 percent of the victims.

The medical data MSF has documented provide evidence that civilians and civilian areas continued to be devastated – whether targeted or indiscriminately struck – in the brutal conflict.

“While the data we collected are staggering, they are just a snapshot of a larger toll,” said Dr Joanne Liu, international president of MSF. “Those injured or dying beyond health facilities supported by MSF remain uncounted. The true situation is very likely far, far worse.”

The data released by MSF reveal that sixty-three MSF-supported hospitals and clinics were bombed or shelled on 94 separate occasions in 2015, destroying 12 facilities and killing 23 staff members. So far this year there have been seven further strikes on six MSF-supported medical facilities.

“Those injured or dying beyond health facilities supported by MSF remain uncounted. The true situation is very likely far, far worse.”

“Permanent members of the UN Security Council, four of whom are actively involved in the war in Syria, must answer for their failure to uphold their most basic responsibilities toward civilians,” said Dr. Joanne Liu. “The council’s own resolutions prohibit attacks on civilians, attacks on medical facilities, sieges and starvation tactics, and yet this is exactly how the war is being waged with their participation”.

Image: UN