Russian jets bombed a hospital in rural Hama, killing one medical worker and completely destroying the building as Russia is putting increasing pressure on the civilian population to force them out of their homes.
The Syrian Interim Government’s health directorate in Hama province said that Russian jets hit the Kafarzeita Specialist Hospital in northern rural Hama, killing a medical worker and putting the facility out of service.
In a statement, the directorate called on the international community to shoulder its legal responsibility to protect civilians and medical facilities from bombardment.
The Syrian Coalition said that the targeting of health facilities, public markets, and civilian homes comes within the framework of a systematic process to force the population to surrender and leave their homes.
The Coalition blamed the continued war crimes in Syria on the international community’s failure to take serious measures to enforce international resolutions on Syria.
The United Nations has earlier said that the Assad regime and its Russian ally were targeting medical facilities. In late January, Panos Moumtzis, UN regional coordinator for the Syria crisis, said that there were 112 verified attacks on health facilities in Syria in 2017 and at least 13 in 2018.
The Assad regime and Russian forces have recently escalated attacks on northern rural Hama and the adjacent southern rural Homs even though the area is covered by the ‘de-escalation zones’ agreement. Russian has threatened it will burn the area if local residents refuse to leave just as it did in eastern Ghouta which was victim of the yet biggest mass forced displacement operation against the local population. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
