LEPPO, Syria, Nov. 19 (UPI) — All hospitals in the Syrian city of Aleppo closed Friday after a series of relentless airstrikes targeting medical facilities.
The only specialized children’s hospital in the area was targeted for the second time since President Bashar al-Assad‘s regime and Russian forces resumed the bombardments on Nov. 15 and three other hospitals also took direct hits, according to Doctors Without Borders.
“The attacks have destroyed entire hospitals, electric generators, emergency rooms and wards, forcing them to stop all medical activities,” Teresa Sancristoval, of Doctors Without Borders, said.
More than 150 people were killed and hundreds more were wounded by the bombardment which also left 300,000 residents without medical care, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“This destruction to the vital infrastructure has left the besieged and resilient people…without any medical facilities to provide treatment and a chance to save their lives,” the Aleppo’s opposition-run health directorate said. “And [it] has left them to die, which is what the regime is trying to achieve.”
The Russian Defense Ministry denied any targets in Aleppo were included in the most recent wave of bombardments, although residents and the health directorate described attacks involving barrel bombs, grad rockets and Ballistic missiles.
“The regime army and Russian forces are using all kinds of weaponry in bombing civilians and infrastructure with a view to preventing civilians, including women, children and elderly, from receiving medical treatment,” the directorate said, according to Anadolu Agency.
The health directorate extended a plea to all world governments “to instantly intervene to stop the war crimes in Aleppo.”
