The UN said “intentionally directing attacks” at hospitals and medical units would constitute a war crime.
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But the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the allegations, saying there was no proof.
The YPG group the US supports in northern Syria is not part of the YPG that is seizing additional territory around Azaz and Afrin, an American spokesman said Wednesday.
Toner said the US was very clear in its message to the YPG that taking additional land around Afrin and Azaz was “heightening tensions with Turkey”.
One of the hospitals in Maarat al-Numan was supported by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The projected truce agreed on Friday in Munich was to begin in a week, but there has been no sign it would happen.
Turkey said Tuesday it is pressing for ground operations in Syria, hoping for the involvement of the USA and other allies as a force dominated by Kurdish fighters pushed through rebel lines and captured more territory near the Turkish border.
Moscow on Tuesday rebuffed claims that Russian warplanes struck a hospital in northern Syria. It was the first significant ground victory in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria, and the administration has looked forward to continuing advances by the group.
On Wednesday, Erdogan stated that a “safe zone,” including a no-fly zone, is needed to protect Syrian refugees from terrorists.
Meanwhile, in the city of Aleppo, insurgents repelled an attack by SDF fighters on the neighborhoods of Hullok and Bustan al-Basha, according to al-Halaby and the Aleppo Media Center.
Erdogan on February 17 said Turkey would continue shelling Kurdish targets in Syria to prevent the creation of a Kurdish stronghold in the northern part of the embattled country. “We will not allow the formation of a new “Qandil” on our southern border”, he said, referring to the Qandil mountains of northern Iraq, where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has established bases during a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state. “Without a ground operation it is impossible to stop this war”, a Turkish official told reporters at a briefing in Istanbul.
The West is in the awkward position of supporting two enemies of the Islamic State who are also at war with each other: Turkey and the Kurds. “Statements by the US authorities have been misleading the PYD and other elements, who think they have a strong ally in the United States and can do what they want in terms of achieving their objectives”.
Russian Federation denied that its jets were responsible; the Syrian government it backs suggested that the strikes were conducted by USA warplanes.
The humanitarian aid mission, which is being carried out by Syrian Arab Red Crescent and United Nations, has been called a “test” of the prospective ceasefire by Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations envoy to Syria.
“So far I understand that the government of Syria has approved access to seven besieged areas”, said Vanessa Huguenin, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). At least 16 trucks were parked on the side of the highway at the entrance to Damascus, waiting to leave for the besieged rebel-held towns of Madaya, Zabadani and Moadamiyeh near the capital.
Indirect peace talks between representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition collapsed earlier this month in Geneva after just two days, largely because of the government offensive in Aleppo.
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Berry reported from Moscow.
