The Assad regime forces continue to attack medical personnel across Syria, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said. At least 33 medical workers have so far been killed in attacks by regime forces in the second half of 2017, the SNHR said.
In a report published on Thursday, the SNHR said that it has documented the death of 69 medical personnel and rescue workers in the first half of 2017. The SNHR pointed out that 33 of those were killed by the Assad regime forces, 16 by the Russian forces, and 4 by the ISIS extremist group.
The Network said that two medical workers have been killed by the militias of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), one by the international anti-ISIS coalition and 11 by groups the Network said it could not identify.
Victims of attacks by the Assad regime included one doctor, eight nurses, nine paramedics, two pharmacists, a volunteer with Syrian Arab Red Crescent, nine civil defense workers, and three medical workers.
The Assad regime forces continue to target dozens of hospitals and medical centers in the liberated areas. Most of the hospitals in rural Hama and some areas in rural Idlib and rural Aleppo have recently been put out of service as a result of such attacks.
According to the monitoring group, a total of 167 medical and rescue workers were killed in attacks in 2016.
The Network concluded its report by calling on the UN Security Council to shoulder its legal and moral responsibility towards the continued attacks on health facilities and civil defense centers in Syria. It stressed that the international community should not remain silent towards the daily bloodbath in Syria.
The SNHR also called on the international organizations to send volunteers to work in the relatively safe areas to help in the aiding of victims of bombardment and other patients given the high number of deaths resulting from lack of qualified medical personnel. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)
