Russian forces destroy 27 medical facilities in Syria

Syrian human rights group reveals Russia's attacks on multiple medical facilities across Syria have led to the destruction of 27 of them during the past five months.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

19 February, 2016

Russian airstrikes have forced thousands of Syrians to flee to refugee camps [Getty]

Twenty seven medical facilities have been destroyed by Russia since the start of its military bombardment in Syria just five months ago.

The revelations come from the Syrian Network for Human Rights, which has documented violations committed by warring-parties involved in the conflict since 2011.

The information was published in a report titled "Aleppo: The Holocaust" on Friday and identified attacks against 17 medical centres under opposition control and 10 others within Islamic State group territories.

An estimated 58 civilians, including 8 women, 3 children and 11 medical staff were killed during the attacks, according to the report.

"What Russia is doing in opposition controlled areas is a clear message to say there is no safe places for you and not a red line that can't be targeted so you must leave. This is similar, if not more than what the Syrian regime is doing," said Fadel Abdul Ghani, director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights.

"This strategy has resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands from the outskirts of Aleppo to the borders of the country amid severe cold. It has placed immense pressure on the Turkish government. We completely object to Russia being part of the political process on one hand while it commits atrocities on the other," he added.

Russia has been criticised in recent days for its continuous bombardment of Syria- an act that could be considered a war crime according to the UN.

Moscow has been blamed for bombing five hospitals and three schools in rebel-held areas on Monday, causing dozens of deaths.

One of the targets included a Medicines Sans Frontiers run hospital in Idlib province, although the group did not assign blame to any party.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said Russian planes were likely to blame due to flight patterns and types of aircraft used in the bombing in opposition-held Idlib province.

On Tuesday, Moscow blamed Washington for the attack but US planes are not known to operate in the area.

Russia has carried out intensive bombing raids on rebel-held territories since Moscow intervened in the Syria war in September.