An Important News Syria

Syria Crisis: 27 killed in Air Strike on Hospital

Edited by Nelly Tawil

The rebel-held area of Syria’s Aleppo has suffered a series of air strike attacks, destroying the al-Quds hospital, killing at least 27 people including three children and the city’s last pediatrician, Dr. Mohammed Wassim Moaz.

The air strike delivered a direct blow to the hospital destroying it and killing at least three doctors according to international medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

“Over the last several years direct, targeted attacks on health care institutions that are clearly civilian facilities have escalated greatly,” an emergency physician and the director of Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Dr. Michael Van Rooyen said, “and Syria’s been the most notable and notorious example.”

Dr. Rooyen continues to condemn the air strike on the medical facility calling it a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions, making it infinitely more hazardous to provide medical care in conflict zones.

It’s still unclear who was behind the attack that destroyed the hospital -Syria’s armed forces were quick to deny reports that it targeted the hospital on state television, while Russia has always denied targeting civilian targets in Syria.

A US State Department official said indications were that the bombing was soley the work of Syrian Government forces.

“We strongly condemn the wave of airstrikes and shelling that have killed more than 60 people in Aleppo in just the last 24 hours,” spokesman Josh Earnest said.

In light of recent events Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy for Syria has characterized the truce between Syria and the opposition as “barely alive”.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 31 people were killed as a result of air strikes on several areas of opposition-held Aleppo on Thursday, in addition to the 27 it said died in the hospital strike.