Bombardment forces Aleppo hospitals to shut

By Mohamad Misto

ALEPPO, Syria (AA) – All hospitals in the under-siege Aleppo city in northeastern Syria were forced to shut down due to relentless airstrikes by regime and Russian warplanes, according to the city’s opposition-run health directorate.

In a Friday statement, the directorate said all hospitals in the city’s eastern parts have been forced to suspend operation as a result of the ongoing attacks by regime and Russian forces.

“The regime army and Russian forces are using all kinds of weaponry in bombing civilians and infrastructure with a view to preventing civilians, including women, children and elderly, from receiving medical treatment,” it said.

The health directorate called on all world governments “to instantly intervene to stop the war crimes in Aleppo”.

At least 150 civilians have been killed and hundreds injured in relentless attacks by regime and Russian warplanes on war-battered Aleppo in the past three days.

Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.

In ٍSeptember of last year, Russia began an extensive air campaign in Syria with the aim of propping up the embattled Assad regime and fighting what it describes as "terrorist groups".