Press Release

Civilian Casualties in Al Atareb and Aleppo City, Syria - Joint Statement

22 March 2021

The United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, Mr. Imran Riza, and the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, Mr. Muhannad Hadi, strongly condemn the artillery shelling that caused significant civilian casualties on 21 March.

 

Artillery shells hit the Al Atareb Surgical Hospital (also known as Al Maghara Hospital), in Aleppo governorate. The incident has reportedly resulted in at least six deaths among patients and visitors, including a ten-year-old boy, and injured 16 civilians, including five medical staff. The hospital also sustained major damage, including to the orthopaedic and emergency clinics.

Civilian casualties have also been reported on 21 March in the neighbourhoods of Al Firdous and Al Saliheen in Aleppo City, as a result of artillery shelling. Reports indicate that two were killed and 17 people have been injured, including two children.

Mr. Riza and Mr. Hadi condemn these incidents and pass on the deepest of condolences to the families of all those who were killed or injured. Syria has been a dangerous place for all civilians, including humanitarian aid and health workers. Attacks on hospitals have seriously impeded access and the right to health, depriving life-saving care to civilians.

Mr. Riza and Mr. Hadi call on the parties to the conflict to respect the special protection afforded to hospitals as well as the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks, and their obligation to take all feasible precautions under international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of civilians.

For further information:

Danielle Moylan, Spokesperson OCHA Syria, moylan@un.org Torsten Flyng, Strategic Communications Officer OCHA Regional Office for the Syrian Crisis, torsten.flyng@un.org

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.

Nathalie Fustier

Nathalie Fustier

RCO
Resident Coordinator a.i and Humanitarian Coordinator
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Ms. Nathalie Fustier has over 30 years of experience in international relations, negotiations, and the management of political, humanitarian, and development affairs. She most recently served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Morocco, leading and coordinating the work of more than 21 UN agencies, funds, and programmes in support of the country’s development priorities. She previously held the same position in Saudi Arabia, where she coordinated the work of 23 UN entities.
Before that, Ms. Fustier worked with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in several leadership roles, including Head of Office in Lebanon and Gaziantep (Turkey), and Senior Humanitarian Affairs Specialist for the Middle East at UN Headquarters in New York.
Earlier in her career, she spent eight years in the private sector advising international companies in the Gulf and the Middle East on risk analysis, negotiation strategies, due diligence, fundraising, and intercultural training. She also served as the volunteer Chair of the Women’s Foundation for the Mediterranean.
For three decades, Ms. Fustier has worked on Middle Eastern affairs. She has served as Counselor for Cooperation and Cultural Affairs at the French Embassy in Doha, worked with the United Nations’ Oil-for-Food Programme and the Department of Political Affairs in New York, and served in the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Baghdad. She also spent eight years in Paris overseeing the work of the Delegation for Strategic Affairs for the Middle East and North Africa.
Nathalie Fustier holds a master’s degree in political sciences from the Institute of Political Studies (Aix-en-Provence, France) and a master’s degree in international Negotiation from Aix-Marseille University (France).

She is married and has one son.

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