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OVERVIEW
The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC) identified 42 incidents of violence against or obstruction of health care in Syria in 2022, a decrease from 82 in 2021. In these incidents, at least 19 health workers were arrested and 10 others killed, impacting healthcare providers’ ability to maintain safe staffing levels. Health facilities were damaged at least 11 times, impacting the population’s access to health care.
This factsheet is based on the dataset 2022 SHCC Health Care Syria Data, which is available for download on the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX).
THE CONTEXT
2022 was the 12th year of the Syrian conflict, which has been marked by continuous and systematic attacks on and obstruction of health care. During 2022, conflict parties, including the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Syrian regime forces, and Turkish Armed Forces (TAF), as well as non-state armed groups, including the Islamic State (IS), Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), attacked or obstructed health care in north-east and north-west Syria. Armed violence by unidentified armed groups in Daraa in southwest Syria also impacted health care.
VIOLENCE AGAINST OR OBSTRUCTION OF HEALTH CARE IN 2022
The number of Syria’s governorates affected by violence against or obstruction of health care halved from 12 in 2021 to six in 2022. Half of the incidents were reported in Syria’s eastern Al-Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor governorates. Other incidents took place in Aleppo, Daraa, Homs, and Tartus. Five incidents took place inside IDP camps in Al-Hasakah and Daraa, with three at al-Hol camp. Most incidents affected healthcare providers working for the national health structure, while eight were recorded as directly affecting NGOs, two the UN, three the Kurdish Red Crescent, and one the ICRC. In 2022, fewer health workers were reported to have been injured and fewer incidents in which medical supplies were looted were recorded, compared to 2021.
Health worker arrests or detentions were most frequent in Deir ez-Zor, while staff killings and kidnappings were generally attributed to unidentified gunmen in Daraa. Reports of explosive weapons use damaging health facilities were common in Aleppo.
The SDF, Syrian regime forces, and the TAF were frequently named as perpetrators of incidents. Incidents attributed to the TAF increased from one incident in 2021 to seven in 2022. All seven involved explosive weapons used in Aleppo and Al-Hasakah. There were no reports of incidents attributed to Russian forces in 2022, compared to five in 2021. The IS was named in the fatal shooting of an LNGO paramedic at al-Hol camp and of an INGO doctor in Deir ez-Zor, and the gunshot injury to another staff member in Deir ez-Zor.1 In Aleppo, SDF forces reportedly shelled a hospital, injuring a patient, and HTS fighters detained an ambulance driver for posting a critical comment on social media.2 Suspected PKK fighters attacked and damaged a WHO health building in Al-Hasakah.3 The perpetrators of incidents that occurred in Daraa were not identified.
At least 13 incidents in 2022 recorded explosive weapons use, a similar number to 2021. All involved damage to health facilities, except two in which a doctor was killed in a car bomb blast in Daraa and a health worker was killed in a double-tap air strike, allegedly by Turkish forces, while on his way to assist people injured in a bombing in Al-Hasakah.4 Air-launched explosive weapons used impacting health care increased from one Russian and/or Syrian forces air strike in Hama in 2021 to five TAF air and drone strikes in 2022, three of which took place in Al-Hasakah and two in Aleppo governorates. Double-tap Turkish air strikes on two villages in Al-Hasakah on November 20 destroyed a COVID-19 center and killed the health worker responding to victims of a previous bombing in Al-Hasakah.