Syria crisis: Hospital strike deliberate, says MSF

BBC Online: Seven people have died in an air strike on a Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital in northern Syria, the organisation said, calling it a “deliberate” attack. MSF said Syria’s government or Russia was behind the raid in Maarat al-Numan. There has been no response from either. A further eight people are missing from the raid, the medical charity said. Separate strikes on a hospital in the same town, as well as on a hospital and school in Azaz, killed at least 12 people, activists and witnesses said. The raids in northern Syria come days after Russia and other world powers agreed to a limited cessation of hostilities, to begin later this week. Almost five years of civil war in Syria have led to the deaths of more than 250,000 people. More than 11 million people have been displaced. MSF said its hospital in Maarat al-Numan was hit by four missiles within minutes of each other. This “leads us to believe that… it wasn’t an accidental attack, that it was deliberate,” said Sam Taylor, the spokesman for MSF operations in Syria. Mego Terzian, president of MSF France, told Reuters “either the [Syrian] government or Russia” was “clearly” responsible. Monday’s attack leaves tens of thousands without medical care in the town, the charity warned. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group which relies on a network of sources on the ground, said nine people were killed, including a child. The raid also left dozens of others wounded, it added. Another hospital in Maarat al-Numan was also hit, opposition group the Local Co-ordination Committees said, killing three people.