In 2015 MSF also supported more than 150 health facilities within Syria, the most to date. But our support did not prevent these facilities from being directly impacted by the conflict. In 2015, 23 MSF-supported Syrian health staff were killed and 58 were wounded. Sixty-three MSF-supported hospitals and clinics were bombed or shelled on 94 separate occasions in 2015, and 12 of these facilities were completely destroyed.
MSF finally gained access to the ravaged city of Kobane/Ayn Al Arab after the IS group was forced out by Kurdish forces with the support of Coalition Forces. We built a hospital in the city only for it to be destroyed during another intense period of conflict after the city was infiltrated by IS group fighters. Despite this, MSF continued to support primary and secondary health care.
2016: Cities besieged
In 2016, siege tactics continued, double-tap attacks increased, and intensified bombing and shelling once again escalated Syria’s humanitarian crisis. By then, many civilian areas had been routinely bombed and deprived of aid. Accessing food and health services was extremely difficult for many people, especially those living in places under siege.
In December, the Syrian government re-took east Aleppo, but not until its residents had lived through the fiercest bombardment of the five-year war. This devastated part of the city became emblematic of the Syrian conflict, with atrocities layered atop one another: siege warfare, the destruction of multiple hospitals, indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas, and a total disregard for the rules of war. Each of the eight hospitals fully or partially supported by MSF in east Aleppo was hit by bombs.
Medical facilities, staff, and patients continued to be victims of both indiscriminate and targeted attacks. In 2016, 32 medical facilities receiving our support were bombed or shelled on 71 separate occasions.
Meanwhile, more of Syria’s neighbors closed their borders to refugees, leaving many people trapped in areas under siege or stranded at borders, blocking access to lifesaving care for war-wounded people.