Dozens of people were killed and wounded in Assad regime and Russian bombardment in the ‘de-escalation zone’ in northwestern Syria on Wednesday. The United Nations asked Russia to explain how it uses data on the location of Syrian hospitals and clinics following a string of attacks on health facilities.
Local news networks reported that the aerial and artillery bombardment killed eight civilians, including women and children, in Idlib province on Wednesday. The Syrian Civil Defense said it was searching for missing people who were still trapped under the rubble.
The bombardment also hit the northern Hama countryside. Local activists said that the airstrikes targeted residential areas and vital civilian centers, including medical centers, causing dozens of injuries, some of them in serious conditions.
Meanwhile, Mark Lowcock, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told the Security Council he was “not sure” hospitals that share coordinates of their location under a UN deconfliction system will be protected.
“I have written to the Russian Federation to request information as to how the details provided through the deconfliction mechanism are used,” Lowcock told the council.
More than 23 hospitals have been hit by attacks since Russia-backed Assad forces launched an offensive in the Idlib region in late April, according to the UN.
According to the Emergency Response Coordinators Team in Northern Syria, the Assad regime and its Russian ally bombed no fewer than 183 vital civilian centers between February 2 and June 9, including 57 medical centers, six civil defense centers, 71 educational facilities, seven IDP camps, 31 mosques, and 11 bakeries.
The Syrian Coalition’s political committee on Tuesday condemned the ongoing bombing campaign in the ‘de-escalation zone’ in northwestern Syria and the crimes against Syrian civilians.
President of the Syrian Coalition Abdurrahman Mustafa said that the continued crimes, the starting of wars, and violation of the ceasefire have proved to the Syrian people before any one else that the Assad regime “is only seeking to destroy the country and kill as many Syrians as it can.”
President Mustafa stressed that Russia’s support for and its participation in the military operations stalled the political process. Russia also encouraged the Assad regime to violate agreements and refuse to engage in the political process. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
