At least 14 doctors and patients were killed after a direct airstrike destroyed a hospital specializing in pediatrics in Syria, the medical charity supporting the facility said Thursday.
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According to the war monitor, 84 civilians were killed in government airstrikes and 479 in rebel attacks, in the last six days, Reuters reported.
“The catastrophic deterioration in Aleppo over the last 24-48 hours, also in parts of Homs area, was reported live to members of ISSG today.No one doubted the severity of the situation”, he said, calling for access to 35 besieged and hard-to-reach areas during May.
The hospital was supported by worldwide medical charity Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French acronym MSF.
Ten of the dead were so badly disfigured they could not be identified, a rescue worker told AFP. About 11 nurses and hospital staff died.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 27 were killed, including three children.
Dozens more were wounded in the bombardments, it said.
MSF Syria said the hospital was the main referral centre for paediatric patients and included an emergency room, and operating theatre and an intensive care unit that had all been destroyed.
With peace talks in Geneva completely deadlocked, Syrians are regarding the escalating bloodshed with dread, fearing that Aleppo is likely to be the focus of the next, more vicious, phase of the war.
De Mistura has urged the U.S. and Russian Federation to intervene to save them.
They come despite an appeal by UN envoy Staffan de Mistura late on Wednesday for urgent steps to rescue the February 27 truce from its cosponsors Russian Federation and the United States.
Opposition activists and rescue volunteers say the death toll from the strikes that hit the Quds hospital and nearby areas rose to at least 27 on Thursday.
The chief Syrian opposition negotiator Mohammed Alloush accused the government of President Bashar Assad of the deadly airstrikes on Aleppo.
The city, Syria’s largest and once a sprawling commercial center, has been divided between rebel and government-controlled sections since 2012. According to the AP, almost 200 people have died since April 19 as the result of government airstrikes in opposition-held areas and rebel shelling in government-held ones.
Because of its strategic location near the Turkish border and symbolic significance, it is often said that whoever holds Aleppo wins the war. Other airstrikes in the neighbourhood also hit areas close to the hospital.
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Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura voiced deep concern at the truce unraveling in Aleppo and at least three other hotspots, although he saw some closening of positions between the government and opposition visions of political transition.
