Missile hits hospital in north Syria, killing 10

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.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the raids were believed to have been carried out by Russian warplanes.

Syria’s rebels, some backed by the United States, Turkey and their allies, say the YPG is fighting with the Syrian military and its backers, including Russian Federation, against them in the five-year-old civil war.

In any event, more than a dozen civilians were killed in Azaz on Monday when missiles hit a children’s hospital.

Medecins Sans Frontieres said eight staff members were missing after another attack in Maarat al-Numan. “There is no thought of Turkish soldiers entering Syria”, Yilmaz said.

“This is a deliberate attack against a health establishment”, said Massimiliano Rebaudengo, MSF head of mission.

“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.

The two nations remain at odds ever since the Turkish air force shot down and killed a Russian pilot for allegedly violating its airspace on the Syrian border on November 24th.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday said the cross-border shelling has succeeded in halting a Kurdish advance on Azaz and vowed the “harshest reaction” if the YPG march on the town again.

MSF has been supporting this hospital since September 2015 and covered all the needs of the facility including provision of medical supplies and running costs.

Turkish Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz has denied Syria’s claim that about 100 Turkish troops had entered Syria, the media reported on Monday.

He says there are also reports that two schools were attacked at Azaz, reportedly killing six children.

MSF, which operates medical facilities inside Syria and supports directly more than 150 others, said last week that attacks were further depleting Syria’s already exhausted healthcare system and preventing more people from accessing desperately needed medical care.

Its shelling adds to an increasingly complicated situation in Syria, where Russian forces are also waging an air campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

MSF said those confirmed killed were five patients, a caretaker and a guard.

A major offensive supported by Russian bombing and Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias has brought the Syrian army to within 25 km (15 miles) of Turkey’s border.

Against the background of the ongoing violent clashes between troops of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the fighters of the al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham in the northern province of Aleppo, Turkish armed forces continue to fire on positions held by Syrian Kurds near the village of Azaz.