Seven people were killed in air strikes in Syria on a hospital supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the charity's France president said on Monday, adding that he believed Russia or Syrian government forces were behind the attack.
“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.
The hospital near Murat al-Numan in the northern Syrian province of Idlib was struck earlier on Monday by four missiles. "The author of the strike is clearly . . . either the government or Russia," he said, adding that it was not the first time MSF facilities had been targeted in the country.
The hospital, which has 54 staff and 30 beds, is financed by the medical charity. MSF also supplies medicine and equipment to the facility.
“This is a deliberate attack against a health establishment,” said Massimiliano Rebaudengo, MSF head of mission. “The destruction of this hospital deprives about 40,000 people of healthcare in this conflict zone.”
MSF said the hospital was destroyed after being hit by four missiles following two attacks within a few minutes interval.
Separately, at least 14 people were killed when missiles hit a children’s hospital, a school and other locations in the rebel-held Syrian town of Azaz near the Turkish border on Monday, a medic and two residents said.
They said at least five missiles hit the hospital in the town centre and a nearby school, where refugees fleeing a major Syrian army offensive were sheltering.
A resident said another refugee shelter south of the town was also hit by bombs dropped by jets believed to be Russian.
Tens of thousands of people have fled to the town, the last rebel stronghold before the border with Turkey, from towns and villages where there is heavy fighting between the Syrian army and militias.
“We have been moving scores of screaming children from the hospital,” said medic Juma Rahal. At least two children were killed and ambulances ferried scores of injured people to Turkey for treatment, he said.
Russian bombing raids on rebel fighters are helping the Syrian army to advance toward Aleppo, the country's largest city and commercial centre before the conflict. If the army takes the city, it will by the Syrian government's biggest victory of the war.
Reuters