In a separate incident, missiles hit another hospital in the town of Marat Numan in Idlib province, in northwestern Syria, said the French president of the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) charity, which was supporting the hospital.
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“This is a deliberate attack against a health establishment”, said Massimiliano Rebaudengo, MSF head of mission.
At least 23 people were killed and dozens injured when missiles hit three hospitals and a school in northern Syria Monday.
Syrian hospitals and a school were smashed in devastating air strikes on rebel-held towns yesterday, killing at least 23 civilians, wounding scores and sparking claims Russian Federation was behind them.
Airstrikes earlier this month killed three people and wounded at least six at a Doctors Without Borders-supported hospital in Daraa governorate, southern Syria, on February 5, the aid group said.
Farther south, an attack in Syria’s Idlib province demolished a MSF-supported hospital, with a series of strikes coming in quick succession, the global aid group says.
Opposition activist Yahya al-Sobeih, speaking by phone from Maaret al-Numan, said “the entire building has collapsed on the ground”.
It was unclear who was responsible for the attacks, which came days before worldwide powers have called for a “cessation of hostilities” in the five-year Syria war.
France and Turkey have said that air strikes on hospitals in northern Syria constitute war crimes.
Capturing Tel Rifaat would bring government forces closer to their target of Azaz, near the Turkish border.
Among the sites hit was a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital, where seven people were reportedly killed.
In yet another attack on a medical facitliy, a mother and child hospital (not supported by MSF) was also been bombed in Azaz city, and staff there are relocating their pediatric operating theater into MSF’s Al Salamah hospital. The eight missing are all hospital staff. It says other patients are still missing, but did not have an exact number.
KIEV/BEIRUT Turkey warned Kurdish militia fighters in northern Syria on Monday they would face the “harshest reaction” if they tried to capture a town near the Turkish border, and accused Russian Federation of a missile attack there that killed at least 14 civilians.
Abu Thaer al-Halabi, a spokesman for the rebel-controlled Aleppo local council, also told Al Jazeera the strikes were carried out by Russian jets.
More than 260,000 people have been killed in Syria since the country’s conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011.
Turkey said on Monday afternoon Kurdish forces had been expelled from around Azaz as a result of its shelling. He added that some 10 people were killed and many were wounded.
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini branded the attack as “unacceptable” and urged “all parties (to respect) basic principles of humanitarian law”.
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“Moscow expresses its most serious concern about the aggressive actions by the Turkish authorities regarding the neighbouring state”, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
