Strikes condemned after Syria hospitals hit

UN SECRETARY General Antonio Guterres on Thursday strongly condemned air strikes in northwest Syria following reports that four health facilities were hit during a single day of bombing.

An ambulance center, a clinic and two hospitals including one in Maarat al Numan that is among the largest in the area were attacked on Wednesday, according to the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, a Syrian doctors’ group.

“Civilians and civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities, must be protected,” said Guterres in a statement released by his spokesman.

The United Nations had shared the coordinates of the hospital in Maarat al Numan with the warring parties, the statement said.

“Parties to the conflict must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law,” Guterres said, adding that those behind the attacks must be held accountable.

Backed by Russia, Syrian forces have since late April ramped up bombardment of the Idlib region, which is controlled by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

The United Nations has warned that an all-out offensive to push out the rebels could lead to a bloodbath in the region where some three million people live.

UN aid chief Mark Lowcock last month said he had asked Russia to explain how it uses data on the location of Syrian hospitals following a string of attacks on health facilities.

SYRIAN Kurdish security forces lift the wreckage of a rigged car which detonated outside the Syriac Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary in the predominantly Christian neighbourhood of al-Wasti in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in northeast Syria. There was no immediate claim for the attack, which Syrian state television said left several people wounded and cars damaged. Syria’s Kurds have led the US-backed fight in the war-torn country against the Islamic State group, which continues to claim deadly attacks despite its territorial defeat in March. AFP PHOTO