At least four civilians, healthcare workers, were injured in alleged Russian or regime airstrikes on Idlib Central Hospital on February 25, 2020.
According to Shaam News, regime warplanes struck Idlib Central Hospital with missiles, causing damage to the facilities and injuries among its staff.
A tweet from @azrak_moahmad added that the bombing of the hospital caused great damage to the hospital and the equipment, and he attributed the strikes to both Russia and the regime.
Shaam News reported that “the Syrian American Medical Association (SAMS) said in a statement today that the city of Idlib is under a campaign of air strikes by the Syrian regime and its allies, as its cadres are mobilized in medical facilities to receive injuries and help as much as possible. The organization pointed out that during the response of its cadres in Idlib Central Hospital, the hospital was subjected to an air strike at the gate of the specialized clinics. The hospital was damages, especially the clinics department, the oncology department, the interior ward department, and the staff accommodation ward.” The hospital was forced to stop operations and the work of specialized clinics, even though they had received 24 injured, including children, and 4 martyrs.
Images show a young girl and a man being treated in the hospital but it is unclear if they are being treated for wounds they sustained when the hospital was bombed or from prior injuries.
Human Rights Watch detailed the events that occurred: “On February 25, 2020 at 1:55 p.m., a munition struck the Central Hospital (also known as Governor Hospital) in Idlib city, wounding at least four civilians and causing damage to the building. A strike hit the eastern gate of Idlib Central Hospital on the afternoon of February 25, 2020.Ma’awya Agha, the data entry officer at the hospital, said he reported intensive shelling from the southeast. At the time, the Syrian army was holding a position about 15 kilometers to the city’s southeast. The hospital had 172 staff members and was treating about 15,000 patients per month. It had 61 beds, including 42 for surgery, 10 for intensive care, and 9 for cancer patients.
Agha, who was present during the attack, said a munition hit the hospital’s eastern gate at 1:55 p.m. “Because of the heavy shelling, all the staff were at the hospital, treating many wounded people coming in. The strike, which I am sure was an airstrike because of the amount of damage it caused, injured four healthcare workers inside. I don’t know how many people outside the building were injured in the attack. I was too afraid to go outside.” Agha said the strike blew out the windows and doors of the hospital and caused cracks to the eastern outer wall, but the hospital was not closed after the attack.
Human Rights Watch reviewed two videos and 21 photographs posted on Facebook and YouTube on February 25, 2020.[168] Together, they show one dead body on the ground, three young children in an ambulance, damage to vehicles, and damage to the hospital wall and a nearby building. In a video uploaded to Facebook, a large crater in the street, approximately 35 meters from the hospital, is visible along with damage to an outer hospital wall. The camera pans from this crater to show the same body on the ground and damage to two vehicles. In another video posted on Facebook by the SCD, an ambulance parks one block, about 125 meters, from the hospital, and rescue workers carry an injured person to the vehicle. The rescue workers search in the rubble of a destroyed building 125 meters away from the hospital. Two photographs posted online on February 25 appear to show damage to the interior of the hospital, including damage to windows and doorframes.
Agha said he knew of no military objectives in the vicinity before or at the time of the attack, nor were there signs of military weapons, equipment, or personnel in the imagery that Human Rights Watch reviewed.
The incident occured at 13:55:00 local time.
