Aerial view of a camp in Idlib governorate, northwest Syria, where MSF teams are organising a distribution of hygiene kits for internally displaced families. MSF has been engaged since April 2020 in distributing hygiene kits to displaced people living in camps in northwest Syria. Since then, the teams have distributed more than 63,000 hygiene kits including items such as soap and detergents to more than 26,000 displaced families in several camps in Idlib governorate and North Aleppo. © MSF
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Idlib, Northwest Syria: Dozens of casualties treated following airstrike

On the morning of Monday, October 26, an airstrike hit an area in the north of Idlib governorate (Syria). Local media outlets have reported more than 75 deaths and another 135 casualties so far. The vast majority of the injured people were immediately transferred to two hospitals, one of which is a facility co-managed by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF received 11 casualties and one of them was dead on arrival.

“When the airstrike happened, the team in our co-managed hospital nearby activated the mass casualty plan,” says Cristian Reynders, MSF project coordinator for northwest Syria. “Soon after, we started receiving critically injured patients in need of surgery. Two patients had badly damaged limbs that had to be amputated and the others needed treatment.”

The airstrike took place in a densely populated area close to the Syrian-Turkish border that does not usually see active conflict. A lot of internally displaced Syrians had fled there during the latest military offensive in Northwest Syria, thinking the violence would not reach this area.

Hours after the incident, hospitals in Idlib were still receiving casualties. In addition to the response at its co-managed hospital, MSF donated a surgical kit with the capacity of 50 surgeries to another health facility that had taken in 90 of the injured people.

 

Hospitals in this specific area of Idlib governorate are not used to receiving people wounded by airstrikes

Cristian Reynders | Msf Project Coordinator In Northwest Syria

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“Hospitals in this specific area of Idlib governorate are not used to receiving people wounded by airstrikes,” adds Reynders. “They are in a zone that is considered relatively safe by the people living there. The fact that airstrikes are happening there is deeply concerning.”

Airstrikes in Northwest Syria

Three times in the past two weeks, MSF co-managed facilities in Idlib have received casualties following airstrikes. On two of these occasions, the facilities activated their mass casualty plans to treat the injured patients coming in.

“Airstrikes in northwest Syria were still taking place close to the frontlines since the latest ceasefire was signed in March 2020”, explains Reynders. “But the fact that they have been increasing in frequency in the past weeks and are now reaching what are considered safe areas of Idlib governorate is worrying.”

This recent escalation of violence, in a region of Syria hosting over 1 million internally displaced people, happens as the health system is already impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. “There’s a real sense of emergency here, whether you look at the humanitarian setting, the public health emergency related to COVID-19 or the overall situation of conflict,” concludes the project coordinator. “The addition of all these elements further complicates what was an already-challenging situation in Idlib”