(Zaman Al Wasl)- Artillery fire by the Syrian regime has damaged a hospital in northwestern province of Idlib, despite a ceasefire that had halted a fierce army offensive against the rebel stronghold two weeks ago, local activists said Friday.
No casualties reported in the attack on the Children Hospital of Kansafra town near Idlib city.
Idlib and other adjacent territories of Syria held by jihadists have faced intensifying bombardment since late of April that claimed lives of 1100 people.
The UN accuses the Syrian regime and allied Russian warplanes of conducting a deadly campaign that appears to target medical facilities, according to BBC.
Regime warplanes have bombed the south Idlib countryside and parts of Hama province in the past 48 hours.
The regime and its ally Moscow declared a ceasefire on Aug. 31 following five months of bombing which the United Nations says killed hundreds of people.
This was the second such truce announced there in a month. A ceasefire in early August collapsed within three days, after which the Russian-backed army of Bashar al-Assad pressed its offensive and gained ground.
Turkey, which supports some rebel factions, brokered a "de-escalation" deal with Russia in 2017 that sought to curb fighting in Idlib. It does not cover jihadist militants.
A UN inquiry into a series of regime and Russian attacks on UN-supported facilities in northwestern Idlib province will begin this month’s end, the international body announced Friday.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres initiated the review at the behest of the ambassadors of the U.S., U.K., France, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Indonesia, Kuwait, Peru and Poland who urged Guterres to look into attacks on medical facilities and possible abuse of the UN's deconfliction channel.
The investigation will be led by Nigerian Lt. Gen. Chikadibia Obiakor, and will include Janet Lim of Singapore, and Maria Santos Pais of Portugal.
At the time of the request Human Rights Watch offered strong support for the inquiry, saying the UN provided Russia, the regime and other parties with "coordinates of hospitals in Idlib to ensure their safety."
Mark Lowcock, the UN's humanitarian affairs coordinator, told the Security Council last month that the regime's more than three-month offensive in northwest Syria has left at least 17 villages in southern Idlib not only decimated but "emptied" as well.
"What you see is a level of destruction consistent with a bombing campaign aimed at a scorched earth policy," he said at the time.
The eight-year-old war has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands and forced 13 million people from their homes, half of whom have left their shattered homeland.
Zaman Al Wasl, Agencies
Zaman Al Wasl
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