School Supported by People in Need Destroyed in West Aleppo Countryside
Published: Nov 14, 2016 Reading time: 2 minutes
Civilian buildings and infrastructure in Atareb, a town in west Aleppo countryside, continue to come under attack. In recent months, the people of Atareb have witnessed a horrifying escalation in the number and violence of airstrikes. Hospitals, humanitarian convoys, schools and White Helmets centres have not been spared in the bombardment.
Yesterday, 13th November 2016, a school supported by People in Need and a White Helmets centre were hit and rendered out of service.
Wisam, a teacher of this school in Atareb, describes what living in such terrifying conditions is like.
“The people here have been living under stress and fear of airstrikes for many months. The warplanes are hitting everywhere; day and night. Many people have already left the city and some hospitals are out of service. Schools are closed most of the time and there are almost no people in the streets and markets. On Sunday 13th November warplanes deployed many airstrikes on the city hitting a school and a civil defence centre. The school was damaged almost completely; it seems the airstrikes were deployed using bunker-busting bombs. Fortunately there were neither students nor teachers in the school as the education authorities had already decided to close schools in the western countryside of Aleppo for a few days. Many civilian homes were also damaged. One little girl was killed in the airstrikes which hit the school.”
School in Atarib supported by PIN, destroyed by airstrike
More than 580 students previously attended this school and 25 teachers received monthly incentives for their work. Now, after yesterday’s attack, the people of Atareb are unimaginably thankful that more children were not killed or injured in the attack. Teachers have already begun moving surviving furniture to other buildings so that lessons can continue and that the education of these 580 boys and girls does not suffer any more than it has already.
At the time of writing, there are more reports of airstrikes on the city impacting civilian homes and a hospital. Two doctors and ten patients lost their lives in the attack.
Attacks on schools, hospitals and civilian infrastructure are in clear violation of International Humanitarian Law. Civilians bear the brunt of this conflict. They must be protected.
