Doctors Without Borders: Five arrested in Syria
Members of the organization were taken from their home in northern Syria on Thursday night and have remained out of contact since then, the organization said in a statement on Friday.
BEIRUT, Jan 3 (Reuters) Five members of the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) team were taken from their home in northern Syria on Thursday night and have been out of contact since then, the organization said in a statement on Friday.
MSF did not specify the nationality of the staff members, their roles, or which group captured them, but said it was "in contact with all relevant parties involved" and was trying to re-establish contact with the team.
The group, known for sending doctors to hard-to-reach conflict zones, said the team was taken there allegedly for questioning.
The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad still controls some swathes of land in northern Syria, but rebels fighting to overthrow him, including radical Islamist factions, have seized large areas of the region.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) does not have Damascus sanctions to provide aid in Syria, but it operates in rebel-held areas. The statement says that doctors are working in six hospitals and four health centers in northern Syria.
In November, the United Nations reported that 12 UN staff members and 32 staff members or volunteers from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent had been killed since March 2011, when the crisis began, and 21 UN staff members remained detained.
(Reporting by Oliver Holmes)