Air strikes on Aleppo hospital kill 20: observatory

Reuters: Air strikes hit a hospital in a rebel-held area of Syria’s Aleppo, killing 20 people, including three children and the last pediatrician in the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday. Two other doctors were also among those killed, the Britain-based war monitor said. In a statement on its Facebook page, the Civil Defence rescue service in rebel-held areas of Aleppo put the death toll at 30. The Observatory said in the past six days in Aleppo 84 civilians had been killed in government air strikes and 49 civilians were killed in rebel shelling of government-held areas. Fighting in Aleppo began to escalate on April 22 and a Feb. 27 cessation of hostilities agreement, which initially reduced violence in many areas of Syria, was described by the United Nations as being “barely alive” on Thursday.