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A/HRC/33/55 9 who are now encircled by advancing Syrian Democratic Forces. A further 70,000 to 90,000 displaced Syrians remain trapped in an uninhabitable desert area near the southern border. C. Assaults on medical care 42. Since March 2011, attacks on medical care have characterized the unrest, and now conflict, in the Syrian Arab Republic. Medical workers, including doctors, dentists, nurses, paramedics, ambulance drivers and laboratory technicians, have been attacked for attending to the wounded. Many have been killed and injured. Others have fled with their families across the Syrian borders, seeking refuge. Hospitals, clinics and ambulances have been destroyed. As a consequence, there has been a severe weakening of health-care infrastructure, particularly in areas of the country not under government control. This has had a disastrous impact on the civilian population, with particularly adverse consequences for infants, young children, pregnant women, lactating mothers, the disabled and those with chronic illnesses. 43. In the past six months, there has been a surge of attacks affecting people and places providing medical care. The majority of the attacks have been carried out by pro-Government forces. The pattern of attacks, and in particular the repeated bombardments, strongly suggests that there has been deliberate and systematic targeting of hospitals and other medical facilities during this reporting period. Some anti-Government armed groups and the terrorist group ISIL have also attacked medical workers and facilities in Government-held areas. 44. Perhaps nowhere has the government assault on medical care been felt more strongly than in the opposition-controlled areas of Aleppo city and governorate, where at least 20 hospitals and clinics have reportedly been destroyed since January. Many of those attacks have caused the death of medical personnel and first responders. 45. In mid-January, government forces barrel-bombed Al-Sakhour hospital in Aleppo. The barrel bomb landed close to the hospital, which serves patients with mental health disorders, killing at least two patients and injuring staff and other patients. The hospital has reportedly been bombarded over a dozen times since early 2014. 46. In late January and early February, government forces reportedly attacked a field hospital in Maskan village, as well as a field hospital and rehabilitation centre in Anadan. Several staff members, including a nurse, were killed in the attack on the Anadan hospital. In early February, planes belonging to pro-Government forces bombarded a field hospital, a rehabilitation centre and a dialysis centre in Tal Rifat in northern Aleppo. Medical staff and patients were injured and the facilities closed, leaving the area with no medical care. 47. On 15 February, pro-Government planes bombarded the street outside a maternity hospital in Azaz in northern Aleppo governorate. Approximately five civilians in the areas outside the hospital were killed, including two guards who were on staff. An interviewee described his relief that none of the infants lying in the incubators had been killed. The hospital itself was severely damaged and closed. 48. On 27 April, there were three aerial bombardments of the area surrounding the Al-Quds hospital, supported by Médecins sans frontières, in the Al-Sukari neighbourhood of Aleppo city. Al-Quds had been the main paediatric referral hospital in Aleppo governorate. Each bombardment struck progressively closer to the hospital, the final one destroying an apartment building, in which many hospital staff resided, only 10 metres from the hospital. A doctor, a dentist, two nurses, a security officer and a maintenance technician were killed, as were approximately 55 people living in the apartment building, which collapsed into rubble. More than 100 people were injured. Essential equipment, including seve