Physicians for Human RightsSyria MapMedia Citations

The following is a sample of media citations from news coverage where statistics and data from PHR’s Syria Map has been used.

PHR targets local, national, and international media outlets, as well as social media. We frequently serve as expert sources, but also provide journalists with important background information that does not directly quote PHR.

Mapping Attacks on Health Care in Syria

“The Syrian government has resorted to every tactic: emergency-room arrests, hospital bombings — including barrel bombs — and even the torture and execution of doctors who attempt to treat the wounded and sick.”Erin Gallagher,PHR Director of Investigations

“Some of those brought into the hospital with bone fractures, it turned out, had been medical aides wounded in Syrian air strikes and shellings. According to ward staffers, the security forces doing the torture seemed to be singling out their victims because their presence on the battlefield—as evidenced by their wounds—suggested that they had been pitching in to help treat the enemy: injured anti-government troops. Indeed, the Assad administration, according to recent reports by both the U.N. and Physicians for Human Rights, has appeared to deliberately target medical transport, clinics, and their staff.”

“Health care professionals are not simply caught in crossfire; more than 135 of them have died after being detained and tortured in the custody of the state security apparatus. Many Syrian doctors have told us they are being targeted because they bear witness to human rights violations, and are perceived to be an enemy of the state for treating patients on all sides of the conflict.”Deborah Ashceim, MD,PHR Chair of the Board of Directors

“At least 654 medical workerswere killed in attacks on hospitals.The United Nations has accused the Syrian government of using attacks on hospitals as a “weapon of war.” Physicians for Human Rights documented nearly 300 attacks on hospitals through July, most of them carried out by pro-Assad forces in opposition-controlled areas.”

“The U.N. secretary-general says Syrian government forces were behind 14 attacks on medical facilities last month, including seven that employed barrel bombs.

In his monthly report to the Security Council, Ban Ki-Moon said seven medical workers were killed in the April attacks documented by the group Physicians for Human Rights.The barrel bombs, used in half the attacks, have been sharply criticized by the international community because they lack accuracy and cause indiscriminate damage.”

“Syrian government forces have systematically attacked the healthcare system in opposition-held areas of the country over the past three years, resulting in the deaths of more than 460 health professionals and widespread destruction to hospitals and clinics, according to a major study.Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), a US-based international NGO, has found that government forces were to blame for 90% of the confirmed 150 attacks on 124 facilities from the start of the Syrian uprising in March 2011 to March 2014, as plotted on an interactive map that will be regularly updated.”

“On Wednesday, a separate report from New York-based nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights claimed the government was responsible for the deaths of 610 doctors and 32 barrel bomb attacks on 24 medical facilities over the past four years. It said that 139 of them were tortured or executed and that hospitals and medical personnel were “targeted” for their work. In 2014, one medical worker was killed every other day, and every four days a hospital was bombed or shelled, the group says.”

“Syrian government forces are responsible for killing more than 600 doctors and medical workers during the four-year war, Physicians for Human Rights said Wednesday, calling the attacks a crime against humanity. The New York-based rights group accused President Bashar al-Assad’s forces of “systematically” targeting hospitals, clinics and medical personnel since the conflict began in 2011.”

“The health care system in opposition-held areas has been destroyed.  Many health care workers have fled the country…More than 600 health care workers have been killed, according to Physicians for Human Rights, and more than 230 medical facilities have been deliberately attacked since 2011.”

“Doctors have been in the crosshairs from the beginning…Around 70 percent of the doctors who were in pre-war Syria have actually left — a lot of them after being detained and tortured.”Widney Brown,PHR Director of Programs

Mapping Attacks on Health Care in Syria

“Nearly 90 percent of the attacks are attributable to the Syrian government, which is also responsible for 97 percent of the 610 deaths of medical personnel, the report said. In addition, the group [Physicians for Human Rights] found that 139 of those killed had been executed or tortured. In many cases, doctors and medical facilities are being specifically targeted, the group said — a tactic that harms not just health workers but also the civilians they treat.”

“To be clear, that these numbers are significantly lower than those by the government does not make these acts less criminal. Each execution of a doctor and each attack on a health facility is a war crime.”Widney Brown,PHR Director of Programs

“Syria once had the best-developed health-care system in the Arab world but since the conflict began, doctors have not only been caught in the crossfire, they’ve been specifically targeted. New York-based Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has been documenting the deaths and reports that 599 medical personnel have been killed, and 175 medical facilities attacked since 2011. The regime loyal to President Bashar Assad has been responsible for 98 per cent of the attacks, according to PHR. That translates to one medical worker killed every other day in Syria.”

“Half of Syria’s doctors have fled, according to Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). Only 45 per cent of public hospitals are functioning. In areas such as Idlib, where fighting has been fierce, that figure is much lower. Government forces have killed more than 600 medical staff, according to PHR, including 139 who were tortured or executed.”

“The [Physicians for Human Rights] report, being released at U.N. headquarters in New York, said the Syrian government was responsible for 88 percent of all hospital attacks. Attacks on medical workers are a violation of international humanitarian law, but the rights group noted that "when the attacks are as widespread and systematic as they are in Syria, they constitute crimes against humanity.“

The release of the report partly compiled from data from PHR's "field sources" inside Syria came as the war enters its fifth year with little prospect for peace.

Attacks on medical staff and hospitals have devastated the medical infrastructure, said the report. Last year, a medical worker was killed every other day in Syria and a hospital was bombed or shelled every four days.”

“Hospitals are often the military targets of the Assad regime. Physicians for Human Rights has documented more than 230 attacks on medical facilities since 2011, resulting in the deaths of 600 medical personnel. So Sahloul and his colleagues do the best they can. Their surgical suites are primitive clinics with tables in schools serving as makeshift operating tables. Medicines, if they can find them, must be bought at a premium.”

“Physicians for Human Rights says government forces have been responsible for 90% of the confirmed assaults on healthcare facilities in Syria, challenging claims by officials that rebels are to blame. The US-based advocacy group published an interactive map which it said represented the most comprehensive study of attacks on medical workers, hospitals and clinics.

The map links to reports, videos and photographs of the 150 attacks on 124 separate medical facilities documented by PHR since the uprising began in March 2011.”

Mapping Attacks on Health Care in Syria

“In Syria, accessing the necessary medication or treatment is nearly impossible. According to Physicians for Human Rights, by June 2014 Almost 500 doctors or medical staff had been jailed or killed and an estimated 15,000 doctors and medical professionals had fled for their own safety.”