The fighting is between: Soldiers who support the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, fighters known as rebels, who don't want Assad to be in power anymore, and the group that call themselves the Islamic State.
“Syria has become the most dangerous place on earth for healthcare providers,” say the researchers involved. Their study of the attacks on healthcare in Syria since 2011, published by the Lancet medical journal, reveals that the death toll among medical workers is at least 814.
There were nearly 200 attacks on healthcare facilities in 2016 alone, say the researchers in their first report for the Lancet Commission on Syria.
“Based on data from 2,100 key informant interviews in 698 subdistricts in both government-controlled and non-government-controlled areas, only 42% of the population live in areas that are likely to have sufficient health workers, whereas 31% live in areas where health workers are insufficient and 27% live in areas where health workers are completely absent.”
only 42% of the population live in areas that are likely to have sufficient health workers, whereas 31% live in areas where health workers are insufficient and 27% live in areas where health workers are completely absent.”
In 2009, there were 29,927 doctors in Syria. Between 2011 and 2015, an estimated 15,000 doctors left the country. The effect on civilians is profound, says the paper.
At least 69 journalists have been killed as a direct result of covering the Syrian conflict since it began in 2011, the most were killed in crossfire or as a result of explosions, but at least six were confirmed to have been deliberately murdered.
The most dangerous country is Syria with five deaths since the beginning of 2014. Four journalists have been killed so far this year in each of Ukraine, Iraq and Gaza.