UN investigators said on Tuesday that over 700 doctors and medical workers have died in hospital attacks, many of them in air strikes, since the war in Syria broke out five years ago, Daily Mail reports.
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria also condemned horrific violations by jihadists and voiced concern that Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants may have recruited hundreds of children into their ranks.
Commission chief Paulo Pinheiro told the UN Human Rights Council that widespread, targeted aerial attacks on hospitals and clinics across Syria “have resulted in scores of civilian deaths, including much-needed medical workers.”
Since March 2011, Syria’s brutal conflict has left more than 280,000 people dead and forced half the population to flee their homes. War broke out after President Bashar al-Assad’s regime unleashed a brutal crackdown against protesters demanding political change in Arab Spring-inspired protests.
It has since become a multi-front war between regime forces, jihadists and other groups with the civilian population caught in the crossfire. The UN and rights groups have repeatedly called on all sides in the war to stop attacking civilian infrastructure including hospitals.
Pinheiro also said the commission was investigating allegations that the AlNusra Front “and other Al Qaeda-affiliated groups have recruited hundreds of children under 15 in Idlib” in northwestern Syria.
The brutality of Syria’s conflict is preventing millions of children from attending school, and activists have warned this is helping fuel jihadist recruitment drives.