An airstrike in southern Syria’s Daraa province hit a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) supported hospital earlier this week, killing at least three people, and wounding six others, including a nurse who was working at the facility.
MSF reported that the strike incapacitated the hospital’s ambulance service, and did some damage to the building, which is just seven miles away from the Jordanian border, near Tafas. MSF reported some 20,000 civilians fled in the area.
Fighting has picked up in the Daraa Province in recent weeks, with the Syrian military advancing into multiple towns and chasing the rebels back. When Jordan was allowing rebels to use their territory, they were able to amass significant gains in Daraa.
MSF hospitals have been hit in increasing numbers across the region, as airstrikes by myriad forces seem to neglect their legal obligation to not bomb hospitals. In recent months, MSF hospitals have been hit in growing numbers in Syria and Yemen, while the US attacked a major hospital in Afghanistan late last year.
There is a simple way to make sure we at least don’t bomb MSF hospitals; abandon the Middle East. Of course we should also attack the problem from the other side by making sure we give no money or support to the MSF, so there are fewer hospitals to bomb.