A/HRC/27/60 108. The use of suicide bombers has remained limited to ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra, groups listed as terrorist entities on the list established and maintained by the Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee with respect to individuals, groups, undertakings and other entities associated with Al-Qaida. B. Specifically protected persons and objects9 1. Government forces 109. The health-care system has been severely affected in the course of military operations carried out by Government forces, as well as through a deliberate and systematic campaign to persecute medical staff treating anyone perceived to be opposing the Government. The prevention of access to health care continues to be used to punish and subdue civilians residing in armed group-held or contested areas. 110. Health-care infrastructure and medical facilities in restive areas have been damaged in hostilities and destroyed by targeted attacks. The flight of health-care professionals owing to fear of arrest, and the death and injury of medical staff have left armed groupcontrolled areas without adequate medical care. The continued denial and removal of medical supplies from humanitarian aid deliveries and the collapse of the country’s pharmaceutical industry have further worsened the provision of medical care. 111. Attacks on medical personnel and facilities violate common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and customary international humanitarian law and amount to war crimes. The frequency of attacks on medical facilities in opposition-controlled areas of Aleppo city and governorate is indicative of a deliberate policy. Government forces target health-care infrastructure with the apparent intention of depriving civilians and fighters injured in government offensives of medical treatment, increasing the loss of life and the number of persons maimed, wounded or killed. Humanitarian workers continue to be targeted in grave violation of international humanitarian law, hampering the operations of aid organizations. 2. Non-State armed groups Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham 112. ISIS continues to detain medical personnel, violating customary humanitarian law prohibiting the punishment of persons for carrying out medical activities. The group has also occupied hospitals, notably in Aleppo. Using hospitals outside their humanitarian function prevents the impartial provision of medical treatment, endangers patients and medical professionals, and compromises the humanitarian function of medical facilities. That has a grave impact on the fulfilment of the obligation under common article 3 to care for the sick and wounded. Failing to respect the emblems of the Geneva Conventions undermines their protective purpose. 113. Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic Front fighters stationed near the Old City of Aleppo continue to fire improvised gas-canister explosives at the Citadel, targeting government snipers stationed within. On 8 May, Ahrar Al-Sham fighters remotely detonated explosives packed into a tunnel dug underneath the Citadel, allegedly used as a base for government soldiers. On 31 May, they detonated a similar tunnel bomb next to the Citadel. Repeated underground high-magnitude shockwaves have caused structural damage to the thirteenth century Citadel, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site. 9 18 See annex V.