Scores including children killed as regime attacks Aleppo hospitals

Airstrikes by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have killed at least 21 civilians - including women, children and medical personnel- and injured at least 40 others in Syria's northern city of Aleppo.

"Russian and Syrian planes and helicopters targeted the neighbourhoods of Shaar, Hanaanu, as-Salihin, al-Ma'aadi and al-Marjah in dozens of airstrikes, killing 21 civilians including women and children," media activist Muhammad al-Halabi told The New Arab.

"About 40 others were injured, and they were transferred to medical points for treatment," he continued.

Airstrikes also took place in the towns of Hayan and Haritan, and in the village of Kafr Hamra, killing eight civilians and critically injuring around two dozen others who were transferred to nearby Turkish hospitals, al-Halabi added.

Hospitals hit

The raid also saw three medical facilities hit in the space of three hours, the UN has said, with medical personnel among those dead and injured.

Unicef's Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Peter Salama, said in a statement that that the three hospitals attacked were the al-Bayan and al-Hakim hospitals, and the Abdulhadi Fares clinic in the eastern part of Aleppo city.

"The Al Hakim hospital is one of the few that still provide paediatric services." Dr Salama said. "This is the second attack on the hospital."

During the strikes, nurses from the al-Hakim hospital were seen rushing into the building's basement carrying babies, AP quoted the hospital's  director of staff as saying.

These latest attacks by the Syrian regime and its Russian allies come just a day after Assad defiantly vowed to retake "every inch" of Syria in the country's ongoing conflict.

"Our war on terrorism will continue not because we like war. They imposed the war on us. The shedding of blood will not end until we uproot terrorism, wherever it is," Assad told Damascus' parliament on Tuesday, when he suggested that a military solution is the only way out for the country.

As part of this determination to retake the country by force, the Russian-backed regime in Damascus also carried out airstrikes on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Monday, killing 17 civilians, including 8 children. 

On Wednesday night, three civilians were reported killed in a regime rocket attack on Bustan al-Qasr district of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Information Centre.