Syria air strike hits MSF-supported hospital, 3 dead: statement

An air strike hit a hospital in southern Syria that is supported by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), killing three people and wounding six, the medical charity said on Tuesday.

“The strike on Tafas field hospital, some 12 kilometres (seven miles) from the Jordanian border, took place on the night of February 5. It caused partial damage to the hospital building, and put its heavily-used ambulance service out of action,” MSF said in a statement.

A nurse was among the casualties, it added.

“The hospital is the latest medical facility to be hit in a series of air strikes in southern Syria, which have been escalating over the past two months,” it said, without specifying who was behind the strikes.

In addition to the Syrian government, Russia and a US-led coalition targeting ISIS are also carrying out raids in the war-torn country.

A Syrian aid group in January said 177 hospitals had been destroyed and nearly 700 health workers killed since the outbreak of the country’s civil war in March 2011.

It is not the first time MSF-supported facilities in Syria have been hit.

“Since the start of this year alone, 13 health facilities in Syria have been hit, confirming that hospitals and clinics are no longer places where patients can recover in safety,” the charity said.

“This latest incident further depletes Syria’s already exhausted healthcare system, and prevents more people from accessing desperately needed medical care,” it added.