{"id":23642,"date":"2025-07-26T13:19:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T13:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/23642\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T13:19:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T13:19:08","slug":"syria-deadly-sectarian-violence-displaces-thousands-in-sweida-healthcare-attacked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/23642\/","title":{"rendered":"Syria: Deadly sectarian violence displaces thousands in Sweida; healthcare attacked"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since 13 July, around 176,000 people have been displaced from Sweida,\u00a0 according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Mostly migrating to neighbouring Dar\u2019a and Rural Damascus governorates, civilians are fleeing violent clashes between Bedouin tribal fighters, Syrian caretaker government forces and Druze militias.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in the north of the country, local authorities reported that a large explosion struck an ammunition depot in Ma\u2019arrat Tasmarin, in Idleb Governorate, on Thursday, reportedly killing six people and injuring at least 140 others.<\/p>\n

Although Syrian Civil Defense teams attempted to evacuate people and transfer the injured for medical care, secondary explosions in the vicinity significantly hindered emergency response efforts.<\/p>\n

Attacks on healthcare<\/p>\n

In Sweida, health facilities are under immense strain, with staff operating in extremely difficult conditions, while access to healthcare remains a challenge.<\/p>\n

As WHO<\/a> confirmed five attacks on healthcare, including the killing of at least two doctors, the organization also reported on the obstructions to and targeting of ambulances as well as the temporary occupation of hospitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know healthcare must never be a target. In fact, health facilities, patients and health workers must be actively protected,\u201d said Dr. Christina Bethke,\u00a0WHO acting representative in Syria<\/a>, speaking from Damascus to journalists at the UN in Geneva on Friday.<\/p>\n

Dr. Bethke said that Sweida\u2019s hospitals are facing shortages of staff, electricity, water, and basic supplies, with the morgue at the city\u2019s main hospital reaching capacity earlier this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnsuring that doctors, nurses and supplies can reach people safely is not just vital for saving lives, it is a responsibility under international law that all sides must uphold,\u201d Dr. Bethke said.<\/p>\n

Limited access<\/p>\n

As different groups control different pathways, poor security conditions are restricting access to Sweida, limiting the ability of the UN and partners to deliver aid to those affected by the violence.<\/p>\n

While access to the city remains limited, WHO has been able to deliver vital supplies to health facilities in Dar\u2019a and Damascus governorates, including trauma supplies, essential medicine and hospital support.<\/p>\n

In response to rising violence both in Sweida and in the north,\u00a0UN humanitarian coordinator in Syria<\/a> Adam Abdelmoula\u00a0 launched<\/a> an extension of the 2025 humanitarian appeal, which is currently less than 12 per cent funded.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since 13 July, around 176,000 people have been displaced from Sweida,\u00a0 according to the UN Office for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,500],"class_list":["post-23642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}