Beirut: At least 21 civilians were killed and dozens others injured in air strikes and rocket attacks on five medical centers and two schools in separate locations in northern Syria on Monday .
Airstrikes were blamed on Russia hit. Despite of cease-fire plan late last week. Both Russia and Turkey have been bombarding parts of northern Syria.
The raids came days after Russia and other world powers agreed to bring about a pause in fighting that would allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the revival of peace
talks.
The separate attacks hit two hospitals in northwest Syria. Where at least 14 people were killed and about 30 injured when air strikes and rocket artillery damaged parts of a hospital in the town of Azaz in Aleppo
province.
In Idlib province, an airstrike destroyed a makeshift clinic supported by Doctors Without Borders. In which one male nurse and five female nurses , a doctor was killed.
In the same raid, a school where refugees were sheltering was also hit. No death toll has been confirmed.
Ahmet Davutoglu the Turkish Prime Minister said in a news conference in Kiev on Monday that a Russian ballistic missile hit the school and hospital in Azaz.
The UN’s children’s agency, Unicef, said four facilities were hit, two in Azaz and two in Idlib. “We at Unicef are appalled by reports of attacks against four medical facilities in Syria two of which were supported by Unicef,” the organisation said in a statement. “One is a child and maternal hospital where children were reportedly killed and scores evacuated.”
The statement added. “Apart from compelling considerations of diplomacy and obligations under international humanitarian law, let us remember that these victims are children.”
Russia denies hitting hospitals or civilians. They said its airstrikes are targeting militants. But rights groups and activists have repeatedly accused Moscow of killing civilians.
Ahmet Davutoglu says. Turkey will not allow the Azaz district to fall under Kurdish control in northern Syria.
The deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov said.” Russia says it will continue to conduct airstrikes in Syria “even if the Syrian ceasefire agreement is reached.”
Gatilov also said that. “As for the allegations suggesting that we deliver airstrikes on targets other than IS, there is no evidence confirming this.”