Government Rocket Attacks Over Two Days Kill Four Civilians, Wound Five
Dar al Shifaa Hospital in Aleppo, clearly marked with red crescents, was attacked by Syrian government aircraft on August 12 and 14, 2012, killing four civilians and wounding five.© 2012 Rachel Beth Anderson for Human Rights Watch
The upper floors of Dar al Shifaa Hospital in Aleppo were badly damaged in government rocket attacks on August 12 and 14, 2012.© 2012 Rachel Beth Anderson for Human Rights Watch
Tail remnants from S-5 rockets that hit Dar al Shifaa Hospital in Aleppo on August 12 and 14, 2012.© 2012 Rachel Beth Anderson for Human Rights Watch
Fighter jet attacks on a hospital twice in three days indicate that this was no accident. By firing rockets at a clearly marked hospital, the government shows blatant disregard for civilian lives.
(Aleppo) – Syrian government fighter planes fired rockets that struck the main emergency hospital in an opposition-controlled area of Aleppo on August 14, 2012, wounding two civilians and causing significant damage, Human Rights Watch said today after visiting the damaged hospital.
A rocket attack by government aircraft on the hospital two days earlier, on August 12, apparently killed four civilians and wounded three, Human Rights Watch said.
“Fighter jet attacks on a hospital twice in three days indicate that this was no accident,” said Ole Solvang, emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch. “By firing rockets at a clearly marked hospital, the government shows blatant disregard for civilian lives.”
Human Rights Watch visited the Dar al Shifaa Hospital, in the Sha’ar neighborhood of Aleppo, about one hour after the August 14 attack, and examined the physical damage and rocket remnants. Hospital staff told Human Rights Watch that no opposition fighters were deployed at the hospital at the time of the two attacks, and only several armed hospital guards were providing security. Human Rights Watch saw no signs of opposition military activity in or around the hospital building.
The hospital is an established medical facility and clearly marked with a red crescent emblem on the front.
Hospital medical staff told Human Rights Watch that government aircraft attacked the hospital and a nearby school at about 3 p.m. on August 14. Three or four rockets hit the upper floors of the seven-story hospital, they said. On August 12, government aircraft hit the hospital with six rockets in a similar attack, hospital staff said.
On the fourth floor of the hospital, Human Rights Watch saw the tail remnants from about a dozen S-5 rockets. These rockets are fired from aircraft with a range of three to four kilometers.
