COMMON ANALYSIS
Last update: June 2025
This profile refers to doctors and medical personnel in all parts of Syria. It also refers to members of the White Helmets, also known as Syria Civil Defence, a humanitarian organisation providing support to civilians in Syria, especially after airstrikes, attacks and clashes.
Doctors, other medical personnel and civil defence volunteers had been subjected to persecution by several actors before the fall of the Assad regime (see ‘EUAA, '4.9. Doctors, other medical personnel and civil defence volunteers' in Country Guidance: Syria, April 2024’). As mentioned above, the risk related to the Assad regime has vanished. In relation to other actors, there is no recent information that indicates the targeting of individuals under this profile for the mere fact of being a doctor, other medical personnel or civil defence volunteer.
In most cases where a well-founded fear of persecution is substantiated, it would be related to circumstances falling under other profiles included in this guidance, for example, for reasons of (imputed) political opinion, since links to specific actors might be imputed to them.
Nevertheless, being a doctor, other medical personnel or a civil defence volunteer, is an individual circumstance that should be taken into account for the assessment of international protection needs under Article 15(c) QD/QR: indiscriminate violence in situations of armed conflict.
See other topics concerning 'Profiles at risk of persecution from multiple actors (including previously the Assad regime):