The prospect of even a temporary truce in Syria seemed as distant as ever on Monday, as violence continued unabated across much of the country with hospitals in two towns apparently being bombed by forces supporting Bashar al-Assad,
days after Russia denied it was targeting civilians in its aerial campaign.
The attacks highlighted the fragility of a deal agreed last week in Munich for a “cessation of hostilities” and the impact on civilians of an
unforgiving air war led by the Kremlin that has helped consolidate Assad’s position and exacerbated the misery of the five-year conflict, driving tens of thousands out of their homes towards the Turkish border.
Syrian President Assad made a televised address on Monday saying that any ceasefire did not mean each side had to stop using weapons.:roll:
the airstrikes on hospitals in two locations in northern Syria mark
the latest in a series of attacks on medical facilities and workers, including 14 so far this year.
Médecins Sans Frontières said seven people were killed when a facility it supports in Maaret al-Numan,
Idlib province, was hit four times in two separate raids. Mego Terzian, MSF’s France president, told Reuters
he thought that either Russia or Syrian government forces were responsible. Both have been engaged in an unrelenting aerial bombardment in Idlib.
In a
separate incident, Syrian opposition activists said
a missile struck a children’s hospital in the rebel-held town of Azaz, near the Turkish border, killing 10 people and wounding more than 30. The Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, said a Russian ballistic missile had hit the town.
The UN’s children’s agency, Unicef, said
four facilities were hit, two in Azaz and two in Idlib. “We at Unicef are appalled by reports of attacks against four medical facilities in Syria – two of which were supported by Unicef,” the organisation said in a statement. “One is a child and maternal hospital where children were reportedly killed and scores evacuated.”
Apart from compelling considerations of diplomacy and obligations under international humanitarian law,
let us remember that these victims are children,” the statement added.
The Syrian National Coalition’s representative to the EU, Mouaffaq Nyrabia, said the hospital attacks demonstrated “Russia’s lack of commitment to ending this conflict” and called on the UN to investigate, alongside other attacks on medical facilities in Syria.
Moscow’s intense airstrike campaign has in recent months helped Assad score his most significant advances since the beginning of the war.
The Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, issued a blanket denial over the weekend that his country was targeting civilians and civilian facilities in Syria, but several attacks on health centres have been documented since Russia’s intervention. In the first month of the campaign launched last October, NGO Physicians for Human Rights documented seven Russian attacks on medical facilities in Syria.
“They are targeting hospitals specifically; this is systematic,” said Zaidoun al-Zoabi, the head of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations, when asked about the Russian claim. “Who bombed the hospitals? For God’s sake, who bombed the hospitals today?”
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Russia resumed airstrikes on Monday in northern Latakia province near the Turkish border as well as Aleppo, bombing rebel positions to pave the way for a regime advance. Obama urged Russia on Sunday to halt airstrikes against mainstream rebels
Airstrikes hit two Syrian hospitals, with Turkey condemning 'obvious war crime' | World news | The Guardian
