The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had said Russian warplanes targeted the hospital in Idlib province on Monday, destroying it and killing nine people.
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Syrian antigovernment monitoring groups say that Russian strikes have been the single largest cause of deaths in the war this year, and that they have killed hundreds of civilians, hitting schools, medical facilities and residential areas.
When pressed, he said Damascus had made announcements about who could have been behind the bombing.
A Turkish official says his country is pushing the case for ground operations in Syria, hoping for the involvement of the USA and other allies in an global coalition against the Islamic State group.
The Doctors Without Borders hospital in Maarat al-Numan had 54 staff members, two operating theaters, 30 beds, an outpatient department and an emergency room, the charity said. The attack left the local population of around 40,000 without access to medical services, said MSF mission chief Massimiliano Rebaudengo.
And in the neighboring Aleppo province, a missile struck a children’s hospital in the town of Azaz, killing five people, including three children and a pregnant woman, according to the Observatory.
Seven people were killed and 23 injured in another strike on a general hospital in Azaz, and 14 people were killed in a strike on a school in the town Monday, the United Nations human rights office reported.
Russian Federation has been accused, by Turkey among others, of being responsible for the attacks.
Earlier, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in his first comments on Friday’s “cessation of hostilities” plan, said it was doubtful all parties would be putting down their weapons within a week.
Meanwhile, Syrian government troops and a predominantly Kurdish coalition of fighters advanced and captured more areas in the north from rival groups on Tuesday, while pro-government forces routed extremists from a main power station in the area.
They said dignitaries from northern Aleppo are trying to negotiate an agreement whereby the insurgents would surrender Marea in exchange for a safe corridor to the town of Azaz, near the border with Turkey. The Aleppo Media Center, an activist collective, corroborated his account.
Turkish artillery returned fire into Syria for a fourth straight day on Tuesday, the defense minister said, targeting the Kurdish YPG militia which Ankara says is being backed by Moscow.
Turkey’s army over the weekend shelled People’s Protection Units (YPG) targets, the military wing of the PYD, which is the Syrian affiliate of the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). At the same time, the survey showed a declining interest in Syria, with only 18 percent of respondents saying they follow these events closely – down from a quarter two months ago.
The strikes came amid days of escalation along the Syria-Turkey border, despite the United States and Russian Federation having agreed Thursday to work for a cease-fire, said to be starting by the end of this week. The official was not authorized to talk to reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Russia’s air strikes have allowed government forces to press a major operation that has virtually encircled rebels in eastern Aleppo city, as well as pushing them from much of the region to the north. The Observatory said the station and nearby villages were captured under the cover of aerial attacks by Syrian and Russian warplanes and helicopter gunships.
The UN envoy met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem in Damascus on Tuesday to discuss a resumption of peace talks.
“We hear about them requesting a ceasefire within a week”.
“Tomorrow we test this, and we will be able to talk more about it”, he told reporters, without elaborating.
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Moscow has actually stepped up its bombing campaign, with the reported attacks on the medical facilities just one example of its widened scope.
