Russian and Syrian forces must end deliberate attacks on hospitals

In a separate attack near the Turkish border in Azaz, at least 12 people were killed in strikes on a children’s hospital and a school housing displaced people.

People gather outside the ruins of the MSF hospital in the Idlib province.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian warplanes targeted the makeshift hospital, destroying it and killing and wounding dozens.

Healthcare in Syria has collapsed because of attacks on hospitals in the country, the global organization Doctors Without Borders said after fresh deady bombings of hospitals this week.

However, the US State Department statement did not mention Idlib specifically, while only condemning air strikes that hit two civilian hospitals “in and around Aleppo”, identifying them as a MSF-run hospital and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in the city of Aziz.

“There were at least seven deaths among the personnel and the patients, and at least eight MSF personnel have disappeared, and we don’t know if they are alive”, Mego Terzian told Reuters.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the attacks, which the UN said killed close to 50 civilians, were a blatant violation of global laws.

Attacks follow days after an agreement made last week in Munich between Russian Federation and other world powers to limit the cessation of hostilities in Syria by the end of this week. Syrian government and allied forces are suspected of carrying out the vast majority of such attacks.

“It is known that providing humanitarian assistance inside opposition-controlled areas is something which is criminialized by the Syrian government”, she said.

More than 260,000 people have been killed in Syria since the war began, including more than 76,000 civilians.