Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has strongly condemned yesterday’s air strike that targeted the civilian area of Latamneh in northern Hama countryside where one of its health facilities is active.
The air strike left five dead: a woman, man, and their three month-old baby girl, as well as a woman and her one-year-old son who were waiting to receive medical treatment at QRCS’s Latamneh Primary Healthcare Centre.
Ten civilians were also injured, including two staff members of the centre, a nurse and a doctor.
The air strike heavily damaged the centre, which provides medical and healthcare to 900 people monthly, mostly mothers and children.
The centre also provides laboratory services and contains a pharmacy that serves a catchment area for 50,000 people. It temporarily stopped its services to assess the safety in the area and its staff.
In a press statement, QRCS said this direct targeting of defenseless civilians “represents a stark violation of the most basic tenets of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law.”
“It is in direct defiance of the multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions condemning the direct targeting of civilian areas in situations of armed conflict,” it added.
The UN Security Council Resolution 2286 (2016) “strongly condemns attacks and threats against the wounded and sick, medical personnel and humanitarian personnel exclusively engaged in medical duties, their means of transport and equipment, as well as hospitals and other medical facilities.”
Despite such attacks, QRCS stressed that it will not be discouraged from pursuing its humanitarian mission in Syria. It will also continue to uphold humanitarian values and the fundamental principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent
Movement.
“Targeting a medical centre that offers primary healthcare services with a particular focus on mother and child care and killing two toddlers and their mothers are clear violations of all international laws,” said Dr Hashem Darwish, head of Health Programmes at QRCS’s Mission in Turkey.
“We are appealing for help to stop the killing of innocent children and calling on the international community to ensure the protection of medical facilities that provide civilians with the medical services they need,” he noted.
Early this month, two direct air strikes completely destroyed QRCS’s Sakhour Primary Healthcare Centre in eastern Aleppo.