Rights groups said that as of April 27, a total of 504 people have been killed across Syria by regime and Russian forces since the opposition’s High Negotiations Committee (HNC) suspended its participation in the Geneva negotiations on April 18. Aleppo bore the brunt of the Assad regime and Russia’s intensifying aerial attacks, where 212 civilians, including 57 children and 50 women, were killed in the period between April 18 and April 27. 5 civilians were also killed under torture.
Activists in Aleppo confirmed that vacuum bombs and cluster munitions have been used in the airstrikes on the city, hitting mostly residential areas and vital civilian facilities.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, meanwhile, warned in a statement on Tuesday that Aleppo city is “on the brink of a humanitarian disaster after a week of escalating violence.”
Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) or Doctors Without Borders on Thursday said that at least 14 people, including at least two doctors, were killed after an airstrike directly hit Al-Quds hospital in the neighborhood of Al-Sukkari on Wednesday, reducing the MSF-supported hospital to rubble.
In a statement, MSF head of mission in Syria, Muskilda Zancada, lamented the attack on the hospital. “MSF categorically condemns this outrageous targeting of yet another medical facility in Syria,” Zancada said.
“This devastating attack has destroyed a vital hospital in Aleppo, and the main referral center for pediatric care in the area. Where is the outrage among those with the power and obligation to stop this carnage?” she said.
The 34-bed hospital included an emergency room, obstetric care, an outpatient department, an inpatient department, an intensive care unit and an operating theater. Eight doctors and 28 nurses worked full time in the hospital, which was the main referral center for pediatrics in Aleppo, according to the medical charity group. (Source: Syrian Coalition)
