At seven O’clock a.m. on Tuesday, 26.09.2017, an air strike from the warplanes targeted the central hospital of Hama with two concussion rockets with the result of putting it out of service and causing a large destruction in its structure, damaging especially the operation rooms, the reception hall and the ambulance lounge as well as the hospital pharmacy.
The hospital, which has been providing services to civilians from different regions of the north of Syria, was founded by Al-Sham Humanitarian Foundation about a year ago, specifically on 3.9.2016, and has since its inception to pre-bombing provided a large number of services for civilians, including more than 1,634 surgeries, more than 9,856 ambulance services, benefiting more than 35,007 patients.
The areas that have been targeted today are considered as agreed-upon areas of de-escalation in the talks, to which Russia is a guarantor. These practices constitute a clearly defined crime against medical units and human values agreed upon by international laws and norms, in particular Articles 12 and 13 of the First Protocol of 1977 and the Geneva Conventions of 1949 relating to the Protection of Medical Centers, and Articles 15 and 16 of the same Protocol, which provide for the protection of medical personnel, as well as the International Humanitarian Law providing for the protection of medical personnel.
We, in Al-Sham Humanitarian Foundation, condemn these acts and call for the neutralization of the medical personnel and facilities from being targeted and call for accountability of those responsible for such acts.