Illegal Attacks on Health Care in Syria
Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, the ongoing assault on health care facilities and personnel has been a defining factor. As a strategy of war, it is effective. It is also illegal. Physicians for Human Rights has systematically documented these war crimes since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011. They are depicted on this map.
Attacker
Includes the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Syrian Islamic Liberation Front, Jaish al Islam, Ajnad al Sham Islamic Union, Hayat Tahrir al Sham (formerly al Nusra) and other groups operating primarily against the Syrian government.
After Russian forces actively joined the conflict in September 2015, PHR researchers started documenting attacks by the Syrian government and its allies. Some of these attacks were carried out by Russian military, some by Syrian military.
Date Range custom
Why are these attacks illegal?
International humanitarian law requires special protections for medical personnel and facilities to ensure the functioning of health care throughout a conflict. International humanitarian law also prohibits the targeting of civilians, including wounded combatants receiving care. Any attack that deliberately targets health care facilities, or that does not take appropriate measures to avoid the destruction of health care facilities, is potentially a war crime.
Total Attacks on Medical Facilities (608)
| Syrian Government Forces: | 312 |
| Syrian Government or Russian Forces: | 236 |
| Anti-Government Armed Groups: | 24 |
| Unknown: | 21 |
| Islamic State (ISIS): | 10 |
| International Coalition Forces: | 4 |
| Turkish Forces: | 1 |
No Place Is Safe for Health Care - The Attack on Syria’s al-Atareb Hospital
Throughout the Syrian conflict, Syrian government forces and their allies have perpetrated the vast majority of the 600 verified attacks on medical facilities in Syria. These attacks have effectively transformed medical facilities into deadly spaces, both for medical professionals and their
How did PHR gather this data?
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) researchers meticulously gather information about reported attacks on health care facilities in Syria through a mixture of online and field sources. Where we are able to corroborate through independent sources that a functioning health care facility is directly hit and partially or fully put out of service by the attack, we map it here. These confirmed attacks on health care facilities constitute the absolute minimum of the attacks actually occurring in Syria: on average, we are able to corroborate approximately 30-40 percent of all received reports.
This project is funded in part by ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) with resources provided by the German Federal Foreign Office.