The Guardian: Syrian medics 'subjected to extreme intimidation' after Douma attack - Apr. 18, 2018

The Guardian: Syrian medics ‘subjected to extreme intimidation’ after Douma attack

Published April 18, 2018. Updated April 18 at 9:38 am

Civilians walk in the former rebel Syrian town of Douma on the outskirts of Damascus on April 17, 2018 after the Syrian army declared that all anti-regime forces have left Eastern Ghouta, following a blistering two month offensive on the rebel enclave. At the start of the year Eastern Ghouta was a sprawling semi-rural area just east of Damascus, home to almost 400,000 inhabitants, which had already endured several years under a government siege that slashed access to food, medicine and other goods. The Syrian government and allied forces launched a massive assault on February 18 to retake the enclave, which had been out of regime control since 2012.

Photo by AFP

The head of the largest medical relief agency in Syria claims that medics who responded to the suspected gas attack in Douma have been subjected to “extreme intimidation” by Syrian officials who seized biological samples, forced them to abandon patients and demanded their silence.

Doctor Ghanem Tayara, the director of the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM) said doctors responsible for treating patients in the hours after the 7 April attack have been told that their families will be at risk if they offer public testimonies about what took place.