It's a shame that when conducting air strikes, the pilots can't leave the hospitals alone.
They target our hospitals... and hit us every time we move: Surgeon in Syria says
A surgeon working in northern Syria has told The Mail on Sunday his patients and colleagues are being deliberately targeted by Russian air strikes, even after the internationally brokered ceasefire.
In the most horrific attack, a precision-guided Russian bomb reduced his hospital to rubble in a blast which killed five of his patients and three of his medical colleagues.
Dr Abdul Aziz, 50, only survived the attack on Christmas Day last year because he was working in the basement when Russian jets targeted the hospital in Azaz, northern Syria, causing carnage.
+4
Dr Abdul Aziz (pictured flanked by colleagues), a surgeon working in Syria, said his patients and colleagues are being deliberately targeted by Russian air strikes, even after the internationally brokered ceasefire
In his first interview since the attack, Dr Aziz said: ‘It was horrific, terrifying. People were screaming and crying, the hospital was ablaze and the place filled with dense smoke and nobody could see.
'One by one we found out who had died. A nurse had been killed, an ambulance driver, a hospital porter and five patients who were in post-surgery had lost their lives.
‘We then huddled underground praying the aircraft would go away. It was cold, dark and everyone was choking on the dust. When it was over I burst into tears. I was alive but I felt no relief because more colleagues and patients had died.’
Dr Aziz said that since Russia entered the conflict on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s side, hospital staff in Aleppo had been forced to take increasingly desperate measures to protect themselves from attacks.
These include removing all insignia from ambulances, removing any signs which indicate the location of medical facilities, and living and working underground.
Read more:
Surgeon in Syria: Russia is targeting our hospitals
They target our hospitals... and hit us every time we move: Surgeon in Syria says
A surgeon working in northern Syria has told The Mail on Sunday his patients and colleagues are being deliberately targeted by Russian air strikes, even after the internationally brokered ceasefire.
In the most horrific attack, a precision-guided Russian bomb reduced his hospital to rubble in a blast which killed five of his patients and three of his medical colleagues.
Dr Abdul Aziz, 50, only survived the attack on Christmas Day last year because he was working in the basement when Russian jets targeted the hospital in Azaz, northern Syria, causing carnage.
+4
Dr Abdul Aziz (pictured flanked by colleagues), a surgeon working in Syria, said his patients and colleagues are being deliberately targeted by Russian air strikes, even after the internationally brokered ceasefire
In his first interview since the attack, Dr Aziz said: ‘It was horrific, terrifying. People were screaming and crying, the hospital was ablaze and the place filled with dense smoke and nobody could see.
'One by one we found out who had died. A nurse had been killed, an ambulance driver, a hospital porter and five patients who were in post-surgery had lost their lives.
‘We then huddled underground praying the aircraft would go away. It was cold, dark and everyone was choking on the dust. When it was over I burst into tears. I was alive but I felt no relief because more colleagues and patients had died.’
Dr Aziz said that since Russia entered the conflict on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s side, hospital staff in Aleppo had been forced to take increasingly desperate measures to protect themselves from attacks.
These include removing all insignia from ambulances, removing any signs which indicate the location of medical facilities, and living and working underground.
Read more:
Surgeon in Syria: Russia is targeting our hospitals
