UN: Over 126 Syrian healthcare facilities attacked this year

The World Health Organization says 126 health care facilities in Syria were attacked between January and September — and that 11 hospitals were attacked in November alone, some more than once.

The WHO’s Syria director, Elizabeth Hoff, tells the UN Security Council on Monday that this month’s attacks had left rebel-held eastern Aleppo with all eight of its hospitals either “out of action or … barely functioning.”

Hoff, who spoke by video from Damascus, denounces the “the militarization of health care facilities by several parties to the conflict, the targeting of health care personnel, and the denial of medical and surgical supplies in many areas.”

She urges the council to ensure that combatants have the coordinates of all convoys and health facilities, to help end attacks on hospitals and health workers, and “to use every last ounce of your influence to bring an immediate end to the suffering in Syria.”

— AP