How doctors from Syria’s diaspora are helping Homs rebuild its shattered health system

Special How doctors from Syria’s diaspora are helping Homs rebuild its shattered health system
Homs suffered heavy damage during the early years of the uprising against President Bashar Assad, which left hospitals and basic services crippled. (AFP)
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Updated 28 April 2025
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How doctors from Syria’s diaspora are helping Homs rebuild its shattered health system

How doctors from Syria’s diaspora are helping Homs rebuild its shattered health system
  • Syria’s 14-year civil war forced medical professionals to flee in their thousands, depriving the country of critical care
  • Diaspora doctors are now rebuilding services in Homs, with a focus on chronic conditions and mental health

LONDON: After 14 years of civil war, Syria’s largest province, Homs, has emerged from the conflict with its health system in tatters. Now, as families begin to return from displacement, diaspora doctors are stepping in to help revive damaged and long-neglected services.

Among them are more than 30 physicians and civic leaders from Chicago. The Syrian American delegation, led by Dr. Zaher Sahloul of the US-based nonprofit MedGlobal, conducted workshops in early April as part of the Homs Healthcare Recovery Initiative.




Over two days, Syrian experts from around the world came together to launch the Homs Healthcare Recovery Conference, organized by MedGlobal Organization International, in partnership with the Homs Doctors Syndicate, and under the auspices of the Health Ministry.
​​​​​​ (Source: MedGlobal)




The Syrian American delegation led by Dr. Zaher Sahloul of the US-based nonprofit MedGlobal conducted workshops in early April as part of the Homs Healthcare Recovery Initiative. ​​​​​​(Source: MedGlobal)

Sahloul said the scale of the crisis is staggering. “During the conflict, many physicians, subspecialists and allied health professionals left Homs,” he told Arab News. “The main hospital in Homs City, Al-Watani, was completely destroyed.”

The exodus of medical professionals left a “huge shortage of specialists, hospital beds and primary health centers,” highlighting “deep inequality in the distribution of healthcare, especially between the city and rural areas,” said Sahloul.




A handout picture released by the Syrian opposition's Shaam News Network shows destruction in the Juret al-Shiyah and the National hospital districts of Homs on April 17, 2012. (AFP file)

Outdated technology and a lack of medical supplies, equipment and medications have further hindered care.

Once dubbed the “capital of the revolution,” Homs was a key battleground in the uprising against Bashar Assad that began in 2011. Years of fighting devastated the province’s infrastructure, leaving hospitals in ruins and severely limiting access to basic services.

“Half of Homs city has been destroyed, and several other cities were heavily damaged, shelled, or under siege — including Palmyra, Al-Qaryatayn and Al-Qusayr,” said Sahloul. “A huge number of people fled Homs and became refugees or internally displaced.”




An image released by the Syrian opposition Shaam News Network on July 23, 2012 shows doctors treating a wounded man allegedly injured by Syrian government forces shelling at a field hospital in the city of Qusayr, 15 km from Homs, on July 14, 2012. (AFP)

By December 2013, almost half the governorate’s population had been displaced, according to UN figures. In the city of Homs alone, 60 percent of residents fled their homes.

Homs is not alone in experiencing such devastation. Today, only 57 percent of hospitals and 37 percent of primary healthcare centers across Syria are fully operational, according to the World Health Organization.

Insecurity and violence since the fall of Assad in December continue to disrupt health services, endangering both patients and medical staff.

Since March, surging violence in Alawite areas — particularly in Syria’s coastal region and the Homs and Hama governorates — has damaged six major hospitals and several ambulances, according to the UN Population Fund.




Homs suffered heavy damage during the early years of the uprising against President Bashar Assad, which left hospitals and basic services crippled. (AFP)

More than 1,000 civilians — including many medical students — have been killed in sectarian attacks, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said in early March. The hostilities have also triggered a fresh wave of displacement.




In this photo taken on October 29, 2015, hundreds of health workers participate in a "die-in" and demonstration organized by Physicians for Human Rights near the United Nations in New York City to draw attention to health workers killed in Syria. (AFP/File)

“The escalation reportedly caused additional civilian casualties and injuries, the displacement of thousands of families and damage to critical infrastructure,” Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF’s regional director for the Middle East, said in a statement on March 9.

Within Homs, the healthcare system is particularly strained. According to a February WHO report, just seven of the province’s 17 hospitals and 58 of its 227 public health facilities are fully functional. Another four hospitals and 124 facilities are operating only partially.

Patients with chronic conditions face serious barriers to care. Cancer patients in Homs “have to go to Damascus to receive their treatment,” said Sahloul. “Patients with chronic diseases cannot afford their medications due to the economic situation.

IN NUMBERS

7 of 17 Hospitals in Homs that are fully functional.

58 of 227 Public health facilities that are fully operational.

(Source: WHO)

“Some patients on dialysis occasionally miss their treatments due to a shortage of dialysis kits. These kits are expensive, with each session costing around $20 to $25.”

The humanitarian crisis is compounded by economic hardship and continued sanctions. With monthly wages ranging from just $15 to $50 and about 90 percent of the population living below the poverty line, many cannot afford basic care.

Mass layoffs affecting about 250,000 public-sector workers have further strained the system.


The UN estimates that 15.8 million people will require humanitarian health assistance in 2025, even as funding continues to decline.

Mental health needs are also immense. “There are large numbers of war victims, including those displaced by violence and people who have lost family members,” said Sahloul, adding that torture survivors and former detainees are “deeply traumatized.”

He said: “As IDPs and refugees begin to return, the burden on mental health services grows.” 

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that at least 1.4 million Syrians have returned home since the fall of the Assad regime. It projects that as many as 3.5 million refugees and IDPs could return by the end of the year.

“This means a growing number of people are coming back to areas with limited or no access to essential services like education, housing and healthcare,” said Sahloul. “All of this creates a situation that is nearly catastrophic.”

Given the scale of the crisis, Syria’s Ministry of Health cannot meet all needs alone. Sahloul highlighted the urgent need for support from NGOs and foreign governments to help sustain as well as rebuild the healthcare system.




Over two days, Syrian experts from around the world came together to launch the Homs Healthcare Recovery Conference, organized by MedGlobal Organization International, in partnership with the Homs Doctors Syndicate, and under the auspices of the Health Ministry.
​​​​​​ (Source: MedGlobal)

Aid agencies are stepping in. The UN Office for Project Services, in partnership with the government of Japan, is working to rehabilitate Homs Grand Hospital to restore critical services.

Similarly, the American Syrian Homs Healthcare Recovery mission, led by MedGlobal, has provided emergency supplies, performed critical surgeries and trained local healthcare workers in collaboration with Syrian communities.

Highlighting the initiative’s impact, Sahloul said: “Some teams began filling gaps in the healthcare system by donating funds for essential medical equipment, including a cardiac catheterization machine for Al-Waleed Hospital, an eye echo machine for Al-Harith Hospital, a stress echo machine for a public hospital, neurosurgical equipment for the university hospital and more.”

 

 

The mission, which began with a small team and quickly grew to include 650 expatriate physicians, has focused on three urgent priorities: Supporting dialysis patients, sustaining cardiac catheterization centers and addressing mental health.

“As part of the initiative, we provided dialysis kits across three different centers,” said Sahloul.

“Non-communicable diseases, not war-related injuries, are the primary health threat,” he added, citing high rates of smoking, hypertension, diabetes and fast food consumption.

The Ministry of Health has also inaugurated the Homs Center for Mental Health Support to assist survivors of torture and war.

However, Sahloul said that improving healthcare requires more than equipment and supplies — it demands addressing longstanding inequities between urban and rural areas, and among different communities.

“One of MedGlobal’s main missions is to reduce these disparities by identifying and filling gaps in healthcare access,” he said. “Historically, Syria has faced significant inequities between rural and urban areas, as well as within different neighborhoods based on their demographics.

 

 

“There are also disparities between major urban centers like Damascus and Aleppo, and the rest of the country. The eastern part of Syria, Hauran and the central regions were historically marginalized.

“By targeting these disparities, there is hope to ease tensions and begin healing a fractured society.”

Despite growing rehabilitation efforts and the commitment of local and international organizations, the scale of need still far exceeds available resources. As instability continues across Syria, both patients and health workers face daily risks.

The path to recovery is long and uncertain. Without sustained support, aid agencies warn, the country’s most vulnerable will remain at risk.
 

 


Israel says killed Hezbollah commander in south Lebanon

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Israel says killed Hezbollah commander in south Lebanon

Israel says killed Hezbollah commander in south Lebanon
BEIRUT: Israel’s military said it killed a local Hezbollah commander on Saturday in south Lebanon, where authorities reported one dead in the fourth Israeli strike within days despite a November ceasefire.
Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed in an Israeli “drone strike” on a vehicle in south Lebanon’s Tyre district.
An AFP correspondent saw the charred wreckage of a vehicle in Abu Al-Aswad, an area around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border.
The Israeli military said in a statement that its forces “struck and eliminated... a commander” involved in “the re-establishment of Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure” in south Lebanon.
Israel has continued to launch strikes on its neighbor despite the November 27 truce which sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah militants including two months of full-blown war.
The Israeli military said that “the rebuilding of terrorist infrastructure and related activity constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
Under the ceasefire, the Iran-backed Hezbollah was to pull back its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south.
Israel was to withdraw all its forces from Lebanon, but it has kept troops in five areas that it deems “strategic.”
Earlier this week, the Israeli military said three separate strikes in south Lebanon targeted Hezbollah operatives.
Lebanon says it has respected its ceasefire commitments and has urged the international community to pressure Israel to end its attacks and withdraw all its troops.

Flights resume at the rebel-held airport in Yemen’s capital, more than a week after Israeli strikes

Flights resume at the rebel-held airport in Yemen’s capital, more than a week after Israeli strikes
Updated 17 May 2025
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Flights resume at the rebel-held airport in Yemen’s capital, more than a week after Israeli strikes

Flights resume at the rebel-held airport in Yemen’s capital, more than a week after Israeli strikes

CAIRO: Flights resumed on Saturday to Yemen’s capital of Sanaa, held by the country’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, more than a week after massive Israeli airstrikes disabled the airport.
The Israeli strikes on May 6 — a rare daytime attack — destroyed the airport’s terminal and left craters on its runway, according to Khaled Al-Shaif, the head of the airport. At least six passenger planes were hit, including three belonging to the national carrier, Yemen Airway or Yemenia, he said.
On Saturday, a flight operated by Yemenia landed at the Sanaa International Airport with 136 passengers on board, according to the Houthis’ Al-Masirah satellite news channel.
The flight had departed from Jordan’s capital, Amman, earlier in the day, the airliner said. Three more flights were scheduled on Saturday between Sanaa and Amman.
The Israeli offensive was in response to a Houthi ballistic missile that hit the grounds of Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, which briefly halted flights and commuter traffic.
The Houthis have targeted Israel throughout Israel’s war with the militant Hamas group in Gaza, in solidarity with Palestinians there, while also targeting commercial and naval vessels on the Red Sea. The attacks have raised the Houthis’ profile at home and internationally as the last member of Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” capable of launching regular attacks on Israel.
Since mid-March, the US military under President Donald Trump launched an intensified campaign of daily airstrikes targeting the Houthis. The two sides reached a deal to halt the US campaign in return for the Houthis halting their attacks on shipping.
However, the US-Houthis deal did not stop the rebels’ missile and drone attacks on Israel, which in turn responded with attacks on Yemen’s Red Sea ports held by the Houthis.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it struck the Hodeida and Salif ports, claiming that the Houthis were using the two facilities to transfer weapons. The Houthi-run health ministry said at least one person was killed and 11 others were wounded in Friday’s airstrikes.


Turkiye evacuates 82 nationals from Libya after unrest

Turkiye evacuates 82 nationals from Libya after unrest
Updated 17 May 2025
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Turkiye evacuates 82 nationals from Libya after unrest

Turkiye evacuates 82 nationals from Libya after unrest

ISTANBUL: Turkiye evacuated 82 of its nationals from the Libyan capital Tripoli after several days of fatal clashes between armed groups, foreign ministry sources said late Friday.
“Eighty-two citizens who wanted to return to Turkiye were assisted in their departure from Libya and allowed to return home,” the source said, referring to “the conflict and insecurity” that has gripped the North African nation in recent days.
The move came a day after the Turkish embassy said in a post on Facebook that it was preparing to evacuate its nationals via a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul from the Libyan port city of Misrata, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Tripoli. It said it would organize bus transport from the capital.
The ministry did not give details about those who returned home and didn’t say whether more flights were planned.
Violence flared in the Libyan capital late on Monday between loyalist forces and powerful armed groups that the government is trying to dismantle.
The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Friday said “at least eight civilians” were killed in heavy clashes, which took place over the following days, bringing air traffic to an almost total standstill.
Although relative calm returned to Tripoli earlier on Friday, the situation remained highly volatile.
Turkiye, which backs the UN-recognized government in Tripoli led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, called on Wednesday for a truce and said it was “closely monitoring” the situation.
Libya has struggled to recover from years of unrest since the NATO-backed 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi, with the country split between Dbeibah’s government in the west and a rival authority backed by strongman Khalifa Haftar in the east.


Putin to host first Russia-Arab summit in October, Russian agencies report

Putin to host first Russia-Arab summit in October, Russian agencies report
Updated 17 May 2025
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Putin to host first Russia-Arab summit in October, Russian agencies report

Putin to host first Russia-Arab summit in October, Russian agencies report

Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited all leaders and the secretary general of the Arab League for the first Russia-Arab summit on October 15, Russia's news agencies reported on Saturday, citing a statement from the Kremlin.
"I am confident that this meeting will contribute to the further strengthening of mutually beneficial, multifaceted cooperation between our countries and will help in finding ways to ensure peace, security, and stability in the Middle East and North Africa," Interfax agency cited Putin as saying in the statement.
The Arab League, a regional organisation of Arab states in the Middle East and parts of Africa, has 22 member states who have pledged, among others, to cooperate on political, economic and military affairs in the region.
The reports came following a four-day trip by U.S. President Donald Trump through the Gulf region this week, during which Washington said it had secured several deals, including a $600 billion commitment by Saudi Arabia to invest in the U.S., $142 billion in arms sales to the kingdom, and an AI partnership with the United Arab Emirates.


At Arab summit, Spain calls for pressure on Israel to end Gaza ‘massacre’

At Arab summit, Spain calls for pressure on Israel to end Gaza ‘massacre’
Updated 48 min 17 sec ago
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At Arab summit, Spain calls for pressure on Israel to end Gaza ‘massacre’

At Arab summit, Spain calls for pressure on Israel to end Gaza ‘massacre’
  • UN chief calls for permanent and immediate Gaza ceasefire
  • Iraq pledges $40 mn for Gaza, Lebanon reconstruction
  • Egypt's Sisi urges Trump to apply pressure for Gaza ceasefire

BAGHDAD: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Saturday called for increased pressure “to halt the massacre in Gaza,” speaking at an Arab League summit hours after Israel announced an intensified operation in the besieged Palestinian territory.
UN chief Antonio Guterres told the Baghdad meeting that “we need a permanent ceasefire, now,” while Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi urged his US counterpart Donald Trump to “apply all necessary efforts... for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.”
The summit comes straight after a Gulf tour by Trump, who sparked uproar earlier this year by declaring that the United States could take over Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
The scheme that included the proposed displacement of Palestinians prompted Arab leaders to come up with an alternative plan to rebuild the territory at a March summit in Cairo.
Guterres said that “we reject the repeated displacement of the Gaza population, along with any question of forced displacement outside of Gaza.”
The UN secretary-general also said he was “alarmed by reported plans by Israel to expand ground operations and more.”
The Israeli military said it had launched “extensive strikes” on Saturday as part of the “initial stages” of a fresh offensive, more than 19 months into the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
Sanchez, who has sharply criticized the Israeli offensive, said world leaders should “intensify our pressure on Israel to halt the massacre in Gaza, particularly through the channels afforded to us by international law.”
He said his government planned a UN resolution demanding an International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s war methods.
The “unacceptable number” of war victims in Gaza violates the “principle of humanity,” he said.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani told the summit that his country backs the creation of an “Arab fund to support reconstruction efforts” after crises in the region.
He pledged $20 million to the reconstruction of Gaza and a similar amount for Lebanon.
Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said the Baghdad meeting would endorse previous Arab League decisions on Gaza’s reconstruction countering Trump’s widely condemned proposal.
During his visit to the region this week, Trump reiterated that he wanted the United States to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone.”

Iraq pledges $40 mn for Gaza, Lebanon reconstruction
Iraq has only recently regained a semblance of normality after decades of devastating conflict and turmoil, and its leaders view the summit as an opportunity to project an image of stability.
Baghdad last hosted an Arab League summit in 2012, during the early stages of the civil war in neighboring Syria, which in December entered a new chapter with the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar Assad.
In Riyadh, Trump met Syria’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, a onetime jihadist whose Islamist group spearheaded the offensive that toppled Assad.
Sharaa, who was imprisoned in Iraq for years after the US-led invasion of 2003 on charges of belonging to Al-Qaeda, missed the Baghdad summit after several powerful Iraqi politicians voiced opposition to his visit.
Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani represented Damascus instead.
The summit also comes amid Iran’s ongoing nuclear talks with the United States.
Trump has pursued diplomacy with Iran as he seeks to avert threatened military action by Israel — a desire shared by many of the region’s leaders.
On Thursday, Trump said a deal was “getting close,” but by Friday, he warned that “something bad is going to happen” if the Iranians do not move fast.