Healthcare Protection

Under International Humanitarian Law, any attack that deliberately targets healthcare facilities, or that fails to take all the necessary precautions to prevent their destruction, constitutes a war crime.

And yet, the widespread assault on healthcare was one of the distinctive features of the violence perpetrated by the Syrian regime and its allies since the earliest days of the Syrian uprising: medical workers were detained, tortured, killed, and medical facilities across the country deliberately targeted and destroyed.

This pattern did not end in Syria: attacks on healthcare have become an alarming and recurring feature of modern warfare, witnessed again and again in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine - revealing the dangerous erosion of one of the most fundamental protections in times of conflict.

“Our story began inside Al-Quds, the last remaining hospital inside besieged East Aleppo, where I served as the director and, as such, was responsible for the entire population in the area during relentless attacks by the Syrian and Russian armies.
Al-Quds hospital itself was targeted multiple times, until the night of the 27th April 2016: at 9:42 pm the hospital was hit by Russian airtstrikes, killing 52.”
- Dr. Hamza Alkateab

Our Vision

Since 2023, we have deepened our work on healthcare protection, bringing colleagues, allies, and stakeholders together both in person and online across the UK, EU, and US. We convened Syrian doctors, Syrian and international NGOs, legal experts, and government representatives in spaces of dialogue and exchange, to reflect on what medical workers need to endure amid relentless attacks. These conversations have focused on practical strategies to strengthen protection, documentation of attacks, and resilience for those delivering care under fire.

In 2025, our work culminated in the publication of a detailed report rooted in the lived realities of Syrian healthcare workers, and translating their experience into action by offering clear recommendations that can improve the protection for healthcare workers in conflict settings everywhere.

Looking ahead, we are committed to carrying this knowledge forward. Building on the report’s findings, we have developed a practical manual of protection guidelines to share with international donors, INGOs, and key stakeholders, ensuring that the voices of healthcare workers remain at the centre of the efforts to protect them.
This project is ongoing, with further guidance, updates, and public campaigns to follow.

Our vision is to see healthcare workers meaningfully protected and supported to continue their life-saving work, even amidst war. This is an ongoing commitment: by bringing together lived experience, collective expertise, and institutional influence, we seek to turn knowledge into concrete measures and lasting change for medical personnel on the ground.

Our Approach

Read our report here

We first launched our call to action, “Stop Bombing Hospitals” the moment For Sama was shared with the world: from the Cannes Film Festival red carpet. Since then we have exposed the issue in unprecedented settings, in different corners of the world, gathering engagement from the medical community and beyond. Scroll through some of those moments below: