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MSF Seeks Independent Probe Into Bombing of Syria Hospital

Thursday, February 18, 2016 5:44 am | < 1 Minute Read

Smoke rises from a location said to be a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) supported hospital in Marat al Numan, Idlib, Syria, February 15, 2016 in this still image taken from a video on a social media website. French charity Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said in a statement that at least eight staff were missing after four rockets hit a hospital that it supported in the province of Idlib in north western Syria. REUTERS/Social Media Website via Reuters TVATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS — Smoke rises from a location said to be a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) supported hospital in Marat al Numan, Idlib, Syria, Monday. (Reuters/Social Media Website)

Medecins Sans Frontieres called on Thursday for an independent investigation into air strikes that killed 25 people at an MSF-sponsored hospital in north Syria, saying there was a probability that they were carried out by the government-led coalition.

Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of the medical charity known as Doctors Without Borders, said that accounts from surviving staff at the hospital in the province of Idlib led it to believe that Syrian and Russian forces were involved.

“We say probability because we don’t have more facts [other] than the accounts from our staff,” Liu told a news briefing. “The only thing predominantly in the region is the Syrian government-led coalition.”

MSF said it had not provided the hospital’s GPS coordinates to Syrian or Russian authorities, at the request of the staff.

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