Nine reported killed as airstrikes again hit Syria hospitals
Beirut (dpa) - The reeling health system in rebel-held Syria was dealt another blow on Monday with deadly airstrikes on two hospitals in a northern town.
Medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) said seven people were killed and eight others were presumed dead in a strike on a hospital it supported in Maarat al-Nuaman.
The group did not say who was responsible for the airstrike. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group, said it appeared to have been carried out by Russian forces.
Another apparently Russian airstrike hit a second hospital in the town, killing two nurses, the Observatory said.
The Syrian ambassador to Russia said the attack had been carried out by the United States.
MSF said its hospital was hit by four missiles in two attacks within a few minutes of each other. It denounced the incident as a "deliberate attack" on health structures.
The charity said 40,000 people would be cut off from access to medical services as a result of the latest strikes on the hospital in Idlib.
Three MSF-supported hospitals were recently damaged in Aleppo and the group last week said that 13 health facilities had been damaged since the start of the year.
Rebel-held areas in northern Syria have seen their health infrastructure badly damaged. According to medics, at least 10 hospitals in Aleppo province are no longer functional as a result of heavy damage from airstrikes.
The airstrikes on medical facilities in rebel-held territory are all thought to have been carried out by Russian and Syrian forces.
Russia, a major ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, started its strikes in Syria in September 30 and has helped the government's forces seize key territory from rebels.
Notably, the government has managed to cut off rebels in Aleppo city from the Turkish border.
Kurdish-led forces backed by Russian and government airstrikes meanwhile continued to advance near the border, seizing most of the town of Tel Rifaat, the Observatory said.
Turkey, which has shelled the Kurds repeatedly in recent days, warned them against any attack on the town of A'zaz, nearest to its border.
"We will not allow A'zaz to fall," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted by the state-run Anadolu news agency as saying while travelling to Kiev.
Davutoglu also warned the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia not to advance further in the region.
"If they approach A'zaz, they will face the most severe reaction," he said, pledging to destroy an airbase the YPG captured if they do not withdraw.
Moscow hit back at Turkey, with the Russian Foreign Ministry expressing "very serious concern" at what it described as "the aggressive actions of Turkish authorities regarding their neighbouring state."
The observatory, meanwhile, reported a fresh airstrike, believed to be Russian, in A'zaz, which killed 10 people, including three children.
Ankara fears Kurdish gains inside Syria will stoke nationalism among the Kurdish minority inside Turkey which has long complained of discrimination.
The Syrian Kurdish militia also has links to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), currently fighting Turkish government forces.
The YPG has made gains in Aleppo against Islamic rebel groups, including hardliners, in recent days, taking advantage of the weakened opposition in the area.
The Syrian Kurds are the main ally on the ground helping the United States beat back the Islamic State extremist group. This relationship has led to tensions between Turkey and the US.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Moscow, Ankara and the Kurdish forces to exercise restraint in Syria, ahead of a cessation of hostilities agreed to at talks in the German city of Munich last week.
"This goes for Russia's military operations and the Syrian regime in the region of Aleppo, and the recent attacks of the PYD (Kurdish Democratic Union Party) militia in northern Syria," Steinmeier said during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
"With a view to the tense situation, Turkey must also show restraint," he added.
