Aleppo dragged deeper into violence
U.S. seeks ‘cessation of hostilities’ for northern Syrian city
Beirut — A maternity hospital in a government-held section of Aleppo was struck by rocket fire Tuesday as battles killed 20 people and dragged the contested city in northern Syria deeper into chaos for a 12th straight day.
The new bloodshed came as the diplomatic focus moved to Moscow, where the U.N. envoy for Syria raced to restore a partial cease-fire in the civil war that would include Aleppo.
The envoy, Staffan de Mistura, met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, one day after meeting U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva. “We need to make sure the cessation of hostilities is brought back on track,” de Mistura said.
Aleppo has been at the center of the conflict for the past two weeks, shattering a limited cease-fire that began in late February. Tuesday's attack on the Dubeet hospital in the government-held central Muhafaza neighborhood that killed four people echoed an airstrike on a hospital on the rebel-held side of the city that killed about 50 civilians nearly a week ago.
About 280 civilians have died in the city in the last 12 days, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitor- ing group of local activists.
Rebel shelling of the government side of the city killed 20 people and injured 100, according to Mohammad Hazzouri, the head of the city's Health Directorate. The Observatory said 19 had died.
The shelling sent panicked residents fleeing from the streets. Many shuttered their businesses and hurried either to pick up children from schools or return home.
A priest at the Arab Evangelical Church offered a bitter appraisal of the reality.
“Aleppo is being slaughtered from vein to vein,” the Rev. Ibrahim Nseir told The Associated Press by telephone from the government- held part of Aleppo. “To all those who consider themselves in favor of human rights, I say that there are no more rights, and no more humans.”
Activists reported government bombardment killed two civilians and wounded several others on the rebel side.