Syria: Artillery shells hit charity-backed hospital in Idlib

An artillery attack has hit a hospital in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province, wounding seven people with one in a critical condition, according to a UK-based charity.

Save the Children said artillery shells struck the southern wing of a health centre it supports on Thursday in the town of Maarat al-Numan in northwestern Syria.

About 60 patients, including children, were in the facility at the time of the attack, according to the NGO. A doctor was among the wounded, it added, without specifying who was behind the shelling.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian government attacks hit the town of Maarat al-Numan on Thursday, without specifying casualties.

“The Maraat al-Numan health compound served up to 300,000 people living in the area, with on average 200 visitors daily, offering critical help to hundreds of children and their families,” Save the Children said in a statement.

It said the attack put the facility out of service, but the full extent of the damage was not yet clear.

“Yet again, civilians are paying the price of a long, deadly conflict,” Save the Children spokesman Amjad Yamin said.

The rebel-held province has endured a Russian-backed bombing campaign that aims to recapture the last remaining opposition stronghold in Syria.

The four-month-long offensive has killed nearly 1,000 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory.

Source: An Artillery Attack Has Hit a Hospital in Syria; Two Rockets Fired from Gaza