There has been a “startling increase” in the number of people displaced from their homes in northern Syria in recent days, according to World Vision, which supports a hospital in the region which was among those impacted by bombings earlier this week.
The organisation said yesterday that more than 62,000 people had been displaced in the Aleppo region in the past 15 days, overwhelming the humanitarian response in camps and towns along the border with Turkey.
Angela Huddleston, program manager for World Vision’s Syria response, said the recently displaced have been living on the front lines for several years.
“For most of these families, shifting lines of conflict mean that it is the second or the third time they’ve had to pack up and literally run for their lives,” she said. “So this time around, they have little left in the way of supplies of belongings.”
No patients were hurt at the World Vision supported hospital – which specialises in maternal, newborn and children’s health and is managed by a Syrian NGO – but the organisation said windows were shattered and the structure damaged. But 14 people in the vicinity were killed in the attack and a further 30 injured.
At least 50 people were reportedly killed when a school and hospitals were hit by missiles earlier this week, including one medical facility supported by charity Médicines San Frontiéres. The organisation has claimed that either the Syrian Government or Russia were behind the attack on the hospital it supports.
Fran Charles, advocacy director for World Vision’s Syria response, said there had recently been an “alarming increase” in attacks on hospitals, schools and other civilian areas in northern Syria and urged the international community to “step up and use all diplomatic influences at its disposal to ensure these attacks stop”.
