Air Strikes in Aleppo Kills 40, Last Paediatrician in City dead

UN Envoy Staffan de Mistura describes the 27 Feb Cessation of Hostilities Agreement as “barely alive anymore.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on 28 April that air strikes hit a hospital in the rebel-held area of Aleppo in Syria, killing 40 people in and around the hospital.

Three doctors were also among those killed including the last paediatrician in the city , the Britain-based war monitor said.

The Al Quds Hospital was run by Médecins Sans Frontières ( MSF) , famously known as Doctors Without Borders.

MSF has been donating medical supplies to Al Quds hospital since 2012, and has built a very strong working relationship with the staff there.The 34-bed hospital offered services including an emergency room, obstetric care, an outpatients department, an inpatients department, an intensive care unit and an operating theatre. Eight doctors and 28 nurses worked full time in the hospital, which was the main referral centre for paediatrics in Aleppo.

Médecins Sans Frontières

The Observatory said in the past six days in Aleppo 84 civilians have been killed in government air strikes and 49 civilians were killed in rebel shelling of government-held areas.

Syrian Army To Respond to Insurgent Attacks

Bebars Mishal of the Civil Defence in Aleppo told Reuters that 40 people had been killed in a five-storey building next to the hospital.

A Syrian military source said government warplanes had not been used in areas where airstrikes were reported.

The Russian defense ministry, which is also conducting air strikes in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad has previously denied hitting civilian targets in Syria.

Syrian military sources said the army has been responding to insurgent attacks in Aleppo, adding: “If the militants continue using this fire and bombardment of civilians, the army will certainly not be quiet about it.”

United Nations Peace Talks Fall Through

The Feb 27 Cessation of Hostilities agreement, which initially reduced violence in Syria, was described by the United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura as “barely alive”at present.

Peace talks convened in Geneva were undermined last week when the main opposition alliance walked out, citing ongoing violence and calling for proper implementation of a U.N. resolution requiring full humanitarian access to affected areas.