Wounded and Sick Trapped in War-Torn Syrian City | Doctors Without Borders

 Tens of Thousands Remain in Deir Azzour in Need of Assistance

Syria 2012 © MSF/People who have fled shelling are living in precarious conditions without access to medical care.

DECEMBER 12, 2012—Tens of thousands of people, many of them wounded, are trapped by intense fighting and bombing in Deir Azzour, a city in eastern Syria, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today, while calling for the evacuation of the injured and sick to safety and for international medical teams be allowed to work in the war-torn city.

An MSF team unofficially visited Deir Azzour governorate in late November to evaluate needs in the isolated, war-ravaged region. It was too dangerous for the team to enter the city of Deir Azzour, home to a reported 600,000 people prior to the conflict. Local residents reported that tens of thousands of people remain trapped in the city, which is shelled and bombed daily. Those remaining are predominantly poor and elderly, unable or unwilling to leave and now extremely vulnerable. Despite support from an organization of Syrian doctors, it is virtually impossible to obtain medical supplies in Deir Azzour.

LINK:Wounded and Sick Trapped in War-Torn Syrian City | Doctors Without Borders