The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Russia’s airstrike on a Syrian hospital was no accident. It was a cold-blooded, targeted attack

Monday saw yet another targeted strike in Syria. Not against Isis or against anyone threatening. No, the latest attack was another deplorable airstrike on a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital that was providing vital medical care to the region surrounding Maarat al-Numan.

According to a monitoring group in the area, the attack resulted in more than nine people’s deaths – including one child’s – and was carried out by Russian forces. Only two days earlier they had agreed to limit hostilities in Syria.

This was no accident. Four rockets hit the hospital: it was a targeted attack, and a cold-blooded one too. 

Between each rocket the forces waited 15 minutes. This “double-tap” tactic, also employed by US drone strikes in the conflict, allows locals to gather at the targeted site and help the casualties, before unleashing its next bomb.

Apart from the nine dead, eight missing and dozens injured, this strike (like several others) has left the local population without access to vital medical services. According to MSF, the local population of 40,000 people can now be added to the long list of civilians “without access to medical services in [the] active zone of conflict” that is Syria.

Source: Russia’s airstrike on a Syrian hospital was no accident. It was a cold-blooded, targeted attack | Voices | The Independent