A United Nations investigative panel has raised concerns about civilian fatalities in Syria, saying over 700 physicians and medical staff have lost their lives during five years of crisis gripping the Arab country.
Paulo Pinheiro, head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, released the figure in a report published on Tuesday.
Airstrikes on medical facilities across Syria “have resulted in scores of civilian deaths, including much-needed medical workers,” Pinheiro told the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, adding, “More than 700 doctors and medical personnel have been killed in attacks on hospitals since the beginning of the conflict.”
“As civilian casualties mount, the number of medical facilities and staff decreases, limiting even further access to medical care,” he said.
The UN official further censured frequent raids on other facilities essential to civilian life, such as schools, markets, bakeries, mosques and water stations, noting, “With each attack, terrorized survivors are left more vulnerable.”
Elsewhere in his comments, Pinheiro said the UN commission was investigating allegations al-Nusra Front terrorist group “and other al-Qaeda-affiliated groups have recruited hundreds of children under 15” in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib.
He also denounced rights violations by the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in the violence-wracked country.
In a report published last week, the commission urged action against crimes committed by Daesh against the Izadi minority in Iraq and Syria, stressing that the Takfiri militants are still committing genocide against the Kurdish-speaking community.
Daesh was holding Izadis in conditions “that bring about a slow death,” selling women at slave markets, raping girls as young as nine, and drafting boys to fight for the terrorist group, according to the report.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-sponsored militancy since March 2011. Damascus says Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar are the main supporters of the militants fighting the government forces.
UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict since March 2011. The UN has stopped its official casualty count in the Middle Eastern state, citing its inability to verify the figures it receives from various sources.