In one of the deadliest days of the five-year conflict, rocket attacks destroyed two separate hospitals in rebel-held areas where medical help is desperately needed. In the first, a health facility backed by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was completely destroyed during an attack on Maaret al Numan, about 170 miles north of the capital Damascus. In a second attack, at least 14 civilians 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.
Turkey immediately blamed Russian jets for the bombing, which left at least 14 people dead and 30 wounded. A resident said a refugee shelter south of the town was also hit by bombs dropped by jets believed to be Russian. But the Kremlin quickly responded to the allegations, accusing Ankara of assisting “fresh jihadi groups and armed mercenaries” to penetrate Syria illegally to replenish battle-battered Islamic State fighters. READ MORE
