Syria conflict: Two hospitals hit in new air strikes

Two hospitals have been hit in new air strikes in northern Syria, medics and witnesses say, causing a number of deaths and injuries.

In Azaz on the Turkish border, at least 10 people reportedly died, including several in one hospital building.

A Reuters report this morning said seven people died and eight are missing after another attack in Maarat al-Numan.

The strikes come days after Russia and other world powers agreed to a limited cessation of hostilities in Syria.

Almost five years of civil war in Syria have led to the deaths of more than 250,000 people. More than 11 million people have been displaced.

It has not been confirmed who carried out the latest attacks.

However, Mego Terzian, president of MSF France, said the Maarat al-Numan strikes were carried out by forces “loyal to President Bashar al-Assad”.

He told Reuters: “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.”

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said a Russian ballistic missile had hit buildings in Azaz, with children among the dead.

‘Deliberate attack’

MSF said four rockets had hit the hospital in Maarat al-Numan, a rebel-held town about 30km (20 miles) south of the city of Idlib, within minutes of each other on Monday morning.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group which relies on a network of sources on the ground, said nine people were killed, including a child. The raid also left dozens of others wounded, it added.

“This appears to be a deliberate attack on a health structure, and we condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms,” said Massimiliano Rebaudengo, MSF’s head of mission in Syria.

“The destruction of the hospital leaves the local population of around 40,000 people without access to medical services in an active zone of conflict.”

The 30-bed hospital, which MSF had been supporting since September 2015, had 54 staff, two operating theatres, an outpatients department an emergency room.