Syria Relief operate 306 schools inside Syria, making them the largest non-governmental provider of education in the country.

The incident happened today in the morning (Wednesday 9th June 2021), an hour before students and teachers were about to start the school day. The Al-Abrar camp, close to the village of Al-Sawaghiyah in the Idlib countryside came under heavy artillery bombardment. Despite the school being destroyed, no one was killed or injured.

The school served residents in an Internally Displaced People camp in Idlib and consisted of 3 classroom tents.

Syria Relief’s Chief Executive, Othman Moqbel says:

“Once again we have seen an educational facility in Syria targeted by military actors. This is the 8th Syria Relief school to have been damaged or destroyed by military action in the past two years. We have seen time and time again in the Syrian conflict that schools are being treated as military targets – children at their school desks are no threat to anyone and it is heinous that they are frequently the target of military attacks.

“What makes this even more disgusting is that it was an attack on a school in an IDP camp, for children who are living in tents because they have fled their homes in fear for their lives. This school was just three large tents which served as classrooms – is this too much to ask? That children, without a home, without a school building, should be able to learn?

“By the grace of God, there were no casualties in this attack on a school.

“We want to thank our colleagues at Syrian Civil Defence Force, aka The White Helmets for their assistance in response to this attack on the IDP children of Syria.

“As we have done the past 7 times our schools were attacked, we call on military actors in this conflict to cease the targeting of schools and all civilian life and for the international community to bring those who continue to try to bomb children to justice.”