'More than 300 doctors and nurses rallied Sunday in the rebel-held Syrian province of Idlib, urging the international community to protect them against an expected offensive by Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
Brandishing roses and wearing white coats and blue surgical uniforms, the demonstrators gathered in front of the hospital in Atme, near the border with Turkey.
Backed by its ally Russia, the Syrian regime has targeted several areas of Idlib with artillery and air strikes, sometimes hitting hospitals and rescue centres in the country’s last major opposition stronghold.
The protesters in Atme, both men and women, waved the flag of the Syrian revolution as well as placards in English that read “UN, protecting us is your responsibility”.
Another directly addressed UN Syria envoy Staffan De Mistura, telling him that “protecting health worker in Idlib is part of your mission”.
“We call for an end to the strikes against hospitals and our protection by the United Nations,” said nurse Fadi Al Amur.
“Medical staff are neutral. We treat civilians affected by the Russian and Syrian air strikes,” he said.
An air strike on September 6 struck an NGO-backed hospital in Kafr Zita, a town in the neighbouring province of Hama, putting it out of service.
The UN said information on the location of the hospital had been provided to parties whose aircraft are involved in the conflict in order to avoid such incidents.
Two days after the attack on the hospital in Hama, a strike hit and damaged an underground hospital on the outskirts of Hass in Idlib.'
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