In a separate incident from the attacks on the National Hospital and the hospital for women and children (listed above for February 15th), between 13 and 26 civilians including up to seven women and at least two children died in airstrikes on the Médecins Sans Frontière (MSF) hospital at Al Hamidiya, according to multiple sources – though they were conflicted as to who was responsible for the attack, with some reports blaming Russia, other the Assad regime and one saying these were Coalition strikes.
Shaam News Network said Russian warplanes conducted four consecutive strikes on the MSF hospital leading to 13 deaths and and the building’s “total destruction“.
It also reported that the Health Directorate in Iblib “issued a statement regarding the Russian raids that targeted field hospitals today in a rural Idlib and Aleppo.” It said that the first attack was “at exactly 9 o’clock when the Al A’thmiya hospital was targeted which belongs to MSF which caused the total destruction of the hospital rendering it out of service completely. The planes came back and targeted the hospital again when the rescue teams had arrived to look for survivors which left 9 dead including a child and two nurses and dozens of injured.”
SNN later reported: “A spokeswoman for MSF in Turkey, ‘Sirab Ozturk,’ said that 11 bodies had been recovered, and confirmed the presence of 25 employees at the hospital during the bombing, stating that 15 of them have survived without injuries, while three employees were injured, and recovered the bodies of five employees and 5 patients and facilities.
“Ozturk explained they do not know how many people were inside the hospital during the bombing, because the bombing occurred during the night shift employees work shifts, saying: ‘We fear the increase in the death toll.’”
According to the Health Directorate for Idlib, eight of those killed were staff of the hospital, “including Doctor Imad Al Nissr from Khan Shaykhun City, two nurses and lab staff Ammar Hallak, Mohammad Shawwaf and Yahiya Qitaz and five nurses namely: Asma’a Dashash, Kawthar al Sawass, Lamia’a, Inas Hamra, Amna Hussein Al Hassan“. Al Jazeera put the death toll at 18, including nine doctors.
A Reuters report quoted the French president of MSF, Mergo Terzian, who said: “There were at least seven deaths among the personnel and the patients, and at least eight MSF personnel have disappeared, and we don’t know if they are alive”.
He added that “The author of the strike is clearly…either the government or Russia,” and said that this was not the first time MSF facilities in Syria had been attacked.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “warplanes believed to be Russian” were responsible – and they “renewed the bombing twice on the hospital’s area.“
They published ten images, though it is not clear whether they refer to this incident or the strike on the National Hospital on the same day (listed above).
Initial reports by the Syrian Network for Human Rights blamed the regime, putting the death toll at at least 6 victims including 2 children.
However, in a later report, SN4HR appeared to change their position and attributed the incident to Russia, putting the death toll at 25 including a child and seven women.
But in an ABC report, Syria’s UN envoy, Bashar Jaafari, repeated Syrian claims that the US-led Coalition carried out the strikes; moreover, he added that it was MSF’s fault as they had never consulted with government re installing hospital: “‘The so-called hospital was installed without any prior consultation with the Syrian government by the so-called French network called MSF, which is a branch of the French intelligence operating in Syria,’ ambassador Bashar Jaafari said.”
The Violations Documentation Center named 16 victims, including an unidentified child.
An additional 15 victims – including six women were named by SPC.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
