Médecins Sans Frontières staff missing in Syria

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/03/medecins-sans-frontieres-staff-missing-syria

Version 0 of 1.

Five staff members of charity Médecins Sans Frontières have been out of contact since being taken from their house in northern Syria on Thursday evening, the medical charity has said.

MSF did not specify the nationality of the staff, their roles, or which group took them, but said in a statement that it was "in contact with all the relevant stakeholders" and trying to re-establish contact.

The group, known for sending doctors to hard-to-reach conflict zones, said the staff were allegedly taken for questioning.

The government of President Bashar al-Assad still controls some pockets of land in northern Syria but rebels fighting for his overthrow, including hardline Islamist factions, have taken swaths of territory.

MSF is not sanctioned by Damascus to distribute aid in Syria but it does operate in rebel-held areas. The statement said its doctors work in six hospitals and four health centres in the north of the country.

Syria's civil war started after Assad's forces cracked down on pro-democracy protests, leading to an armed revolt which has left more than 100,000 dead.

A United Nations document said in November that 12 UN staff and 32 staff or volunteers of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent had been killed since March 2011, when the crisis started, and 21 UN staff remained in detention.

Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.