IDLIB, Syria, July 30 (UPI) — Two people were killed and several others were injured during an apparent airstrike on a maternity hospital in Syria with more than 1,000 women.
International charity organization Save the Children said the hospital, which serves over 1,300 women and performs over 300 deliveries each month, in the Syrian province of Idlib was bombed on Thursday.
The charity stated that two people were killed in the attack and several babies were injured when their incubators crashed to the floor. A woman who was six months pregnant had her leg severed and two other women received shrapnel wounds to the stomach. Hospital staff members were injured as well.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic bombing of the maternity hospital in Idlib. Our thoughts and hearts are with the patients, staff, and their families,” Save the Children President and CEO Carolyn Miles said.
The hospital, which Save the Children supports through Syria Relief, is the only one of its kind for 43 miles with six incubators for premature babies, and an outpatient clinic for supporting pregnant women and providing after-delivery care.
According to Save the Children, the generator was damaged during the attack and hospital functions aside from the emergency room are believed to have stopped.
The charity shared video from the aftermath of the bombing and Syria Director for Save the Children Sonia Khush condemned the bombing as well as other recent attacks on health care facilities in the country.
“There is no excuse, and unfortunately this is only the latest in a series of strikes on health facilities in Syria,” she said. “We condemn these attacks, which are illegal under international law, in the strongest possible terms. We need an immediate cease-fire across Syria and an end to the appalling bombing of medical facilities.”
HOSPITAL BOMBING : Footage from the ground in the immediate aftermath, hospital served over 1000 people #Syria
