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Assad regime air strikes leave 4 hospitals out of service

These airstrikes come shortly after the Syrian regime completely cut off the Syrian opposition in eastern Aleppo by taking the Costello Road, the only supply route those forces had.

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Only five hospitals are still operating, said IDA. “Civilians and hospitals are #notatarget”.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, has put the death toll from the five-year conflict at more than 470,000.

Earlier this year, Syrian peace talks broke down due to the escalation of fighting, especially in the divided-city of Aleppo.

“Rescuers are struggling to extract them from under the debris”, he said.

The attack took place over the space of 24 hours as part of an overnight raid in the Al-Shaar neighbourhood on Sunday. He added that a blood bank was struck in Aleppo as well.

An amateur video posted online shows two nurses, one carrying a baby.

The fall of the city to forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would represent a significant blow to the opposition movement.

A relative calm in the northern Syrian city on Saturday night was shattered by airstrikes that targeted hospitals.

“According to Physicians for Human Rights, 750 medical personnel have been killed in Syria so far, 698 of whom were killed in attacks carried out by government forces and their Russian allies”.

The bombardment killed a two-day-old baby in the children’s hospital in a besieged eastern neighbourhood of Aleppo, said the Independent Doctors’ Association, a group of Syrian doctors that supports clinics in the city.

Syria’s state news agency SANA, quoting police, denounced a “terrorist attack” that it said killed 5 and wounded 16. “If they are sick, likewise”, Brown said.

“They are targeting all vital public utilities”, al-Halaby said by telephone.

The government advance has raised fears for more than 200,000 people who remain in the east of the city, where food shortages and spiralling prices have already been reported.

Nusra Front is one of al-Qaida’s most powerful branches around the world and reports about a possible disassociation with al-Qaida have circulated in the past but never materialized.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien warned on Thursday that up to 300,000 people are at risk of besiegement in Aleppo.

O’Brien, the aid chief, said 5.5 million people need assistance in hard-to-reach and besieged parts of Syria.

Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Gazientep along the Turkey-Syria border, said that several of the hospitals hit are still able to function.

Syrian state news agency SANA said a pregnant woman and her child were killed.

The bombardment came as UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura was expected to meet senior U.S. and Russian officials in Geneva on Tuesday with the aim of reviving peace talks to end the five-year conflict. Given Syria’s recent history, that would be a surprising development.

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The February ceasefire between the government and a number of rebel groups but not Islamic State – which was brokered by the USA and Russian Federation – is largely in tatters.

FILE- Stephen O'Brien UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs talks during an interview at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul