Russia denies its warplanes hit Syria hospital

Turkey on Tuesday denounced Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria as “barbaric”, saying the assault had killed civilians including children and the elderly.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters: “We categorically do not accept such statements, the more so as every time those making these statements are unable to prove their unfounded accusations in any way”.

Turkey had accused Russian Federation of carrying out an “obvious war crime” after two schools, a hospital and a Medecins Sans Frontieres medical centre near the Turkish-Syrian border were hit by missiles.

In a separate incident on Monday, at least 14 people died when missiles struck a children’s hospital and a school in the rebel-held town of Azaz in northwestern Syria, near the Turkish border, Reuters reported, citing a doctor and two residents. It says nine people were killed, including a nurse and eight civilians.

The head of the United Nations children’s agency says he is “appalled” at reports of attacks on four medical facilities in Syria – two supported by UNICEF.

“The author of the strike is clearly… either the government or Russia”, Terzian stated.

“Russia needs to explain itself, and show through its actions that it is committed to ending the conflict, rather than fueling it”, Hammond said in an e-mailed statement, after airstrikes on Monday struck medical facilities.

The Syrian ambassador to Moscow, Riad Haddad, previously said the USA was to blame, a claim the Pentagon dismissed as “patently false”.

France’s new foreign minister has issued a statement in which he has “firmly” condemned the bombing of a hospital in northern Syria run by Doctors Without Borders.

In Damascus, the United Nations special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, met on Tuesday with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem.

They were due to discuss among other things one of the key priorities of the truce – “unhindered humanitarian access to all besieged areas”.

SANA quoted al-Moallem as saying that they talked about the efforts exerted by Syria to deliver humanitarian aid to its citizens, “particularly to the areas controlled by terrorist groups”.

Speaking in televised comments Monday, Assad said a cease-fire did not mean each side had to stop using weapons, and that nobody can secure the necessary conditions within a week.

A Turkish official on Tuesday said it would back a ground operation in Syria but only “with our worldwide allies”.

In recent weeks, a Russian-backed offensive has carried the Syrian army to within 15 miles of Turkey’s border.

Separately, members of the Syria Democratic Forces, a coalition of Arab and Kurdish groups, captured the major town of Tel Rifaat, one of the largest strongholds of militants in Aleppo province.

Meanwhile, Syrian government forces – backed by Russian air power – reportedly continue to make advances around the northern city of Aleppo, capturing the villages of Ahras and Misqan on Tuesday.

The SDF fighters are a separate entity in Syria’s five-year civil war and have mostly battled the Islamic State group.

The Syrian conflict, which has killed more than 260,000 people and displaced half the population, began with peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 before evolving into a sectarian war pitting predominantly Sunni rebels against Assad, whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.