Dozens of activists, doctors and medical workers gathered on Sunday in front of the Al-Quds Hospital in Aleppo to protest against the brutal aerial campaign the Assad regime has launched on the city. Al-Quds Hospital, along with many medical and civilian facilities, has been destroyed by intensified regime airstrikes.
Some protesters wore red T-shirts reading: “I am a doctor; I am a child; I am a nurse,” while other demonstrators held placards saying: “Aleppo is being burnt down,” and “Save Aleppo” in Arabic, English, Chinese, French and Russian.
Civil defense workers, meanwhile, continue to remove rubble resulting from the airstrike that hit the hospital building five days ago where 30 people, mostly women and children, were killed. Three doctors were also killed in the airstrike, including Mohammed Muaz, the only remaining pediatrician in the liberated parts of Aleppo province.
Regime forces, with the help of its Russian ally, have launched an intensive aerial campaign on the city since April 21, targeting mostly populated areas. Hundreds of civilians have been killed or injured in the ongoing airstrikes.
In southern rural Aleppo, the FSA and other rebel groups have been holding off attempts by Iranian, Iraqi and Hezbollah militias to advance on the strategic town of Al-Eis south of Aleppo since mid-April.
Civil defense officials in Aleppo said that over the past ten days the Assad regime and Russian jets have carried out at least 260 airstrikes on the city, including 65 strikes using barrel bombs dropped from regime helicopters. Regime forces also targeted the rebel-held parts of the city with 18 surface-to-surface missiles, according to Anadolu Agency.
Medical sources in the city confirmed that 196 people, including 43 women and 40 children, have been killed in the attacks and 424 people injured, including 75 women and 96 children.
Civil Defense teams said that the bombardment is concentrated on the neighborhoods of Al-Sakhur, Al-Mashhad, Al-Qatirji, Al-Firdos, Bab al-Nayrab, Al-Hulluk, Al-Kallasa, Tariq al-Bab, Bab- al-Hadid and Al-Ansari. (Source: Anadolu Agency)