Airstrikes hit German-funded hospital in north-western Syria

Aistrikes on Syrian rebel-held areas in Idlib onThursday hit a hospital that is funded by the German Foreign Office,the co-founder and country director of the foundation running thefacility told dpa."The hospital in Kafr Nabl is ... an underground hospital since itwas hit previously, which left the part above the ground totallydestroyed," said Fadi Dairi, of the British foundation Hand-in-Hand,which runs the facility. The Kafr Nabl surgical hospital, known as Orient Hospital, is locatedin the southern countryside of Idlib.He said the hospital was hit first by three barrel bombs and then arock hit its entrance, which was badly damaged.Dairi said there were no casualties among its staff members.The targeted hospital is 1,800 square metres in size with threeoperating rooms, according to Dairi.Hand-in-Hand, founded in 2011, works on health, water, sanitation,food security and livelihood. It runs eight health facilities insideSyria.Since late April, the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,supported by Russian air power, started a massive campaign againstrebels in the provinces of Hama and Idlib, the last major oppositionstronghold in the country.  Syrian government planes have targeted schools, hospitals andcivilian residential areas.Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory forHuman rights, told dpa that since April around 20 health centres andhospitals have been hit in the countryside of Idlib. Earlier, at least three civilians, including a child, were killed ina series of airstrikes on Idlib by the Syrian government and Russia,a key ally of al-Assad.The observatory said government warplanes had carried out at least 15strikes on Idlib, in north-western Syria.Allied Russian jets also mounted air raids in the southern part ofIdlib, according to the watchdog.The White Helmets rescue teams told dpa that the strikes killed twocivilians in the Idlib town of Khan Sheihkoun and a child in the areaof Jabal al-Zawiya in southern Idlib.Ahmed Sheikho, the head of White Helmets in Idlib, said widely bannedcluster bombs were used in the bombardment.The escalation has claimed more than 500 civilian lives and displacedmore than 300,000 people, according to the observatory.