On the morning of Monday 26 October, an airstrike hit an area in the north of Idlib governorate, northwest Syria. Local media outlets have reported more than 75 deaths and another 135 injured so far. The vast majority of the injured people were immediately transferred to two hospitals, one of which is a facility co-managed … Read more
Northwest Syria is currently witnessing a sharp increase in the number of patients with COVID-19, which is now ten times higher than what it was just a month ago. As of 22 September, 640 people had tested positive for the new coronavirus in the region, almost 30 per cent of them health workers. Eighty new cases were recorded on 14 … Read more
As numbers of patients with COVID-19 grow in northeast Syria, the pandemic is having a knock-on impact on other health services in a region where some 700,000 people are displaced from their homes. MSF emergency manager for Syria Will Turner describes the situation across the region and in Al-Hol camp for displaced people, where more than 65,000 people, … Read more
Four months after COVID-19 was officially declared an international pandemic, the disease has made its way into northwest Syria, with a first case confirmed on 9 July. Since then, 18 more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the area. More than half of the positive cases so far are healthcare workers who were working in the few remaining … Read more
Abu Fadel, Hassan and Iman… all three are living in Idlib governorate in northwest Syria. Like 2.7 million other Syrians, they’ve been displaced within the country several times, and some of them ended up in Idlib. The last rebel stronghold, bombed in massive airstrikes led by the Syrian army and its allies, Idlib has become home to a … Read more
AMSTERDAM/NORTHEAST SYRIA — As the first reported death from COVID-19 is confirmed in northeast Syria, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is concerned about the region’s preparedness and capacity to respond to an outbreak. A weakened health system, delays in testing and border closures make it near-impossible to adequately respond to a COVID -19 outbreak in the region. Nine … Read more
Cristian Reynders, field coordinator for MSF operations in northwest Syria, explains what the potential spread of COVID-19 would mean in Idlib and how MSF is preparing for it. Not so long ago, COVID-19 was not yet making headlines worldwide. On the TV news, you’d watch reports on various non-pandemic-related topics. Many of these concerned the … Read more
The military offensive carried out by the Government of Syria and its allies in northwest Syria has led to almost a million people in the Idlib region becoming displaced in the space of just four months. People have had to flee from their homes or from the camps they were already displaced in, to escape the daily shelling, aerial bombing, … Read more
Over the three past months, almost one million people, according to the UN, have been displaced by bombing and shelling in Idlib province, northwestern Syria. Displaced people, many of whom have been forced to move several times, face a desperate situation. “On the news and on social media, we see how the whole world is concerned … Read more
BRUSSELS – Indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas had predictably horrific consequences yesterday in Idlib governorate, Syria. Three hospitals near the frontlines that are supported by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) received 185 wounded, and 18 patients who were dead-on-arrival. “We do not know how to make them stop indiscriminate attacks, and we do not know how … Read more