People wounded in the crackdown on dissent in Syria, as well as medical personnel trying to treat them, risk arrest and even torture, Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) said yesterday.

“The aim of the Syrian army was clearly to kill the wounded and those suspected of treating them,” said one doctor on a team of MSF medics who entered Syria illegally after failing to get permission to work in the country.

The MSF team managed to reach the rebel strongholds of Homs and Idlib, where “patients and medical personnel are hunted down and run the risk of being arrested and tortured,” MSF official Dounia Dekhili told AFP.

“We are in a very particular situation in Syria: no impartial humanitarian aid can be brought in, and the harassment of the wounded and doctors is part of the regime’s police strategy,” she added.

An MSF surgeon who was part of the trip said that, according to “terrified” Syrian doctors, “it is at least as dangerous to be caught caring for the wounded as being caught with a weapon in your hand.”

“The two doctors, with whom we worked most, were previously thrown in jail on suspicion of providing aid to those wounded in peaceful demonstrations. One of them had been tortured,” he said on condition of anonymity.

Medical facilities were also systematically attacked, according to the doctors.

“In a state hospital, we worked as much as we could for three days, but then had to flee in 10 minutes because we feared an imminent attack,” the MSF surgeon said. “This happened to us twice.”

An anesthesiologist on the trip said patients want to spend as little time as possible in the hospital, sometimes returning home less than an hour after undergoing surgery, for fear of being caught.

“The vast majority were wounded by bullets and shrapnel... Our access to these people was very brief, and often limited to emergency care,” he said, also on condition of anonymity.

The team also reported medical facilities being systematically attacked.

“This medical blockade is completely perverse. This is a huge problem for the chronically ill, suffering from diabetes or kidney failure,” the surgeon said.

“This is my first time to see an army loot and destroy pharmacies. It’s a whole new level of brutality.

“The interests of the wounded and of health personnel should be a priority in Syria,” MSF said in a statement, urging a “redoubling of diplomatic and political efforts”.