UN: Nearly 50 civilians killed in Syria by airstrikes on hospitals, schools

The United Nations said nearly 50 civilians were killed Monday in missile strikes on five hospitals and two schools in northern Syria, just days before a proposed brokered truce is to begin.

The United States and aid groups blamed the Syrian government and its ally, Russia, for the airstrikes, though neither acknowledged responsibility for the attacks.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon called the attacks “blatant violations of international laws" that are "further degrading an already devastated health care system and preventing access to education in Syria,” according to deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.

Doctors Without Borders said a hospital it funds in Maarat al-Numan, in Idlib province, was hit by four rockets in attacks that were minutes apart, killing seven people and leaving eight staff members missing and presumed dead. The international charity said about 15 buildings in the area were hit.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian warplanes targeted and destroyed the hospital but Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, on Tuesday denied that Russian aircraft struck the building. The Observatory and other opposition activists said another hospital in Maaret al-Numan was also hit, most likely by a Syrian government airstrike.

In a separate incident Monday, at least 14 people died when missiles struck a children's hospital and a school in the rebel-held town of Azaz in northwestern Syria, near the Turkish border, Reuters reported, citing a medic and two residents.

Abu Mohamed, a civil defense officer in Azaz, said Russian warplanes launched strikes on parts of the town Monday, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The airstrikes come after the United States and Russia announced Friday in Munich a temporary cease-fire agreement that could start as soon as the end of this week to allow humanitarian aid into besieged Syrian cities.

The Doctors Without Borders hospital in Maarat al-Numan had 54 staff members, two operating theaters, 30 beds, an outpatient department and an emergency room, the charity said.

“This appears to be a deliberate attack on a health structure, and we condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms,” said the agency's Head of Mission, Massimiliano Rebaudengo. “The destruction of the hospital leaves the local population of around 40,000 people without access to medical services in an active zone of conflict.”

2nd Doctors Without Borders hospital hit in a month

Mego Terzian, president of Doctors Without Borders, told Reuters the strikes were clearly conducted by either Syria or Russia.

The U.S. State Department blamed the attacks on the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and its supporters, which include Russia. The State Department issued a statement condemning the airstrikes, saying they cast "doubt on Russia's willingness and/or ability to help bring to a stop the continued brutality of the Assad regime against its own people.”

Speaking in televised comments Monday, Assad said a cease-fire did not mean each side had to stop using weapons, and that nobody can secure the necessary conditions within a week.

"There can't be a cease-fire without a goal or a time," he said. "So far they say they want a cease-fire within a week. Who is capable of gathering all these conditions and requirements within a week? Nobody."

As Syria cease-fire looms, fighting escalates

Several of Doctors Without Borders' hospitals across the region have been struck in recent months. A hospital in southern Syria supported by Doctors Without Borders was bombed last week, allegedly by Russian airstrikes, killing at least three people.

On Oct. 3, U.S. forces struck a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, killing 30 people. The U.S. military said that bombing was a mistake after Afghan forces had requested an airstrike.

Another Doctors without Borders medical facility in Saada, Yemen, was hit by an airstrike Oct. 26, the organization said. A Saudi-led coalition began launching strikes in Yemen against Shiite rebels known as Houthis last March.