Washington: Nearly 50 civilians has been killed in missile strikes on hospitals and two schools in northern Syria on Monday, the United Nations said, deepening the country’s humanitarian crisis despite plans for a temporary cease-fire later this week.
The hospital airstrikes came a day after US President Barack Obama urged Moscow to halt its bombing campaign, illustrating the lack of leverage western powers have over peace negotiations aimed at ending a war that has killed nearly a third of a million people, reports Washington Post.
Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian President, made a televised address on Monday saying that any ceasefire did not mean each side had to stop using weapons.
Doctors without borders said that at least seven people were killed on early Monday when rockets hit a clinic that it supports in Idlib province.
The group also said eight people were missing in what it called a ‘deliberate attack’ on its facilities.
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.
In total, at least five medical facilities and two schools in Idlib and neighboring Aleppo province were attacked Monday.(ANI)