A/HRC/22/59 8. On 16 September, a Syrian fighter jet dropped two “barrel bombs” on two residential buildings in Bustan Al-Qasr next to Al-Sukari hospital, which were being used by the FSA to treat wounded fighters and civilians. 9. Al-Farabi hospital in Hritan, on the outskirts of Aleppo, was shelled in late October. An interviewee who passed the hospital the day after the attack described the extensive destruction of the hospital building and its infrastructure. 10. The mobile Kafrnbel field hospital in Al-Bab has been shelled twice in different locations, most recently in early December. In order to remain hidden and decrease the likelihood of attack, the hospital was not identified by the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions. 11. In collecting accounts from eyewitnesses and victims to attacks on hospitals and medical units, there has been consistent information indicating that no warnings were given prior to attacks. This is a violation of international humanitarian law and amounts to the war crime of attacking protected objects. 12. Dar Al-Shifa hospital in Aleppo was regularly targeted during the reporting period. These attacks caused death and injury to civilians present within the hospital, significantly damaging its infrastructure, and substantially reducing the hospital’s ability to treat patients. The commission considers that these direct attacks on Dar Al-Shifa and other field hospitals in Aleppo constitute examples of a campaign of attacks against civilians in antiGovernment armed group-controlled areas. 13. Medical personnel have come under attack in Aleppo. In early September, a medical emergency worker was shot by sniper fire in Al-Midan neighbourhood while in full medical uniform and holding a medical bag with a Red Crescent logo on it. Around the same time, an ambulance that was evacuating wounded, hors de combat FSA fighters in Salah Eden neighbourhood was hit five times by sniper fire. 14. Medical personnel and medical transports are afforded special protection under international humanitarian law, implicit in Common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions, which requires that the wounded and sick be collected and cared for. Attacks against persons hors de combat are prohibited. Dara’a governorate 15. As part of an attack against Tafas, a town in southern Dara’a on 25 and 27 December, a hospital was bombarded. Government forces attacked the hospital because they believed wounded FSA members were receiving treatment there. 16. Accounts indicate that the parties to the conflict consider the control of hospitals and medical facilities in terms of strategic and military gain. On 1 January 2013, Government forces attacked a checkpoint outside Al-Ihraq hospital in Dara’a that had been taken over by defectors in an effort to regain control over the hospital. 17. In August, an ambulance driver delivering medical supplies was stopped at a Government checkpoint in Athman. He was arrested upon the discovery of medical supplies and taken to a Government security agency. The man was detained for two weeks, after which his body was brought to the National Hospital in Dara’a. An interviewee who saw and collected the man’s body described it as, “The ambulance driver’s body was skeletal. It looked like he hadn’t been fed for two weeks. His skin as red and blue all over and his legs were swollen to twice their size. He looked like he’d been beaten to death.” GE.13-10627 111