Russian Warplanes Destroy Hospital in Aleppo

Russian warplanes backing troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad pounded rebel-held areas in and around Aleppo on Saturday. Rebels and aid workers said the Syrian/Russian coalition destroyed one of the city’s main hospitals in eastern Aleppo and killed at least two patients. Human rights groups said the air strikes focused on major supply lines into rebel-held areas of Aleppo, as well as one of the hospitals, where Russian jets and Syrian helicopters dropped at least seven missiles. According to the Syrian American Medical Society, which supports the hospital, it was struck by barrel bombs and sustained significant damage forcing it to close. Both France and Germany condemned the attacks, and accused Russia and Syria of war crimes. The attack on the hospital comes amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, where 250,000 civilians remain trapped with little food or fresh water and almost no medical resources. The few doctors remaining have been operating with no anesthesia, and severely wounded children have been left to die, because there are few doctors to care for them. UN officials are warning of a humanitarian catastrophe in Aleppo, which was Syria’s largest city before the war began more than five years ago.