Airstrikes hammered rebel-held zones in Syria’s besieged Aleppo Wednesday, badly damaging a children’s hospital as staff members and patients huddled in a basement, doctors said.
The attacks came a day after Syrian government forces and their Russian allies resumed offensives across northern Syria, including Russian cruise missile strikes from a warship in the Mediterranean. Syrian forces, meanwhile, launched heavy bombardment in rebel-controlled eastern Aleppo in an attempt to break one of the last urban strongholds of the opposition.
Loss of the rebel footholds in Aleppo would be a major blow to armed factions and others fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. It could also hasten the fall of their remaining strongholds across the country
Staff at the children’s facility in Aleppo’s al-Shaar neighborhood said they were hiding in the basement, counting the bombs above their heads. The young patients and their parents cowered alongside in one of the few hospitals still operating in rebel-held parts of Aleppo.
East Aleppo’s central blood bank, located near the hospital, also was hit in the raids, residents said.
Russia said Tuesday that it had launched a major offensive against rebel-held areas in Idlib and Homs provinces, but denied involvement in the new attacks on Aleppo.
Once Syria’s economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been divided between rebel and government control since 2012 along one of the most intractable front lines of the war. Its recapture by Assad’s forces could hasten the collapse of the armed opposition across northern Syria.
Speaking from the basement of the children’s hospital, its director – who identified himself only as Hatem – said his staff were trapped. “The planes are up above. We can’t get out. Maybe we can protect ourselves in this room,” said Hatem, who gave only one name in fear of possible reprisals against his family.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said Wednesday that at least 17 civilians were killed in the first 24 hours of the government offensive. Residents said an ambulance driver was among the dead, underscoring the dangers facing rescue workers who venture out to save lives.
Video footage from the al-Shaar area appeared to show the aftermath of fierce bombardment. Fires licked the edge of cars and buildings, and air was filled with dust.
The Independent Doctors Association, a nonprofit group, said the children’s hospital had been badly damaged. It was the fifth attack on a medical facility in the space of three days. The United States condemned those attacks Tuesday, calling them violations of international humanitarian law.
East Aleppo is surrounded by an array of government-allied forces – including Syrian troops and Iran-backed militias – and its supply routes have been cut. The United Nations said last week that aid workers in the area had handed out the last of their food stockpiles.
On Wednesday, a Syrian state-owned television channel, Ikhabariyah, reported large troop deployments along several main fronts in Aleppo. It claimed their assault was imminent and that “zero hour” would soon begin.
The Syrian and Russian governments have framed the fight against armed opposition groups as a war on terrorism. In an interview with Portuguese television, aired Tuesday, Assad suggested that President-elect Donald Trump could be a “natural ally” to the Damascus government if he is “genuine” about fighting “terrorists” in Syria.
But attacks have repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure, often bombing areas where moderate rebel factions operate. Assad’s troops have also lain siege to dozens of towns and villages, adopting a policy toward civilians that the UN has labeled ‘surrender or starve’.
Although it began with peaceful protests, Syria’s rebellion is increasingly dominated by jihadist factions including an al-Qaida-linked group, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, which focuses on building a popular constituency among the communities it says it protects.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday that Russian airstrikes had resumed in Idlib, a province where Jabhat Fatah al-Sham operate among civilians and other rebel groups.
Sherif al-Khalaf, a journalist from the area, said the bombing had struck 34 areas since Tuesday, killing six and wounding dozens. “The damage is immense and people are frightened,” he said.
Syria’s five year war has claimed the lives of an estimated half a million people and touched off the largest refugee crisis since the World War II.
