Airstrike destroys MSF-supported clinic in northern Syria

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says close to 50 civilians have been killed and many more wounded in missile attacks on at least five medical facilities and two schools in northern Syria. He said five people were killed near the MSF clinic and “all members of the medical team inside are believed to be dead”.

In a separate attack in the town of Azaz — less than five miles from the Turkish border in Aleppo province – a missile hit a children’s hospital and killed at least five people, the AP reports.

Syria’s rebels, some backed by the United States, Turkey and their allies, say the YPG is fighting with the Syrian military and its backers – including Russian Federation – against them in the five-year-old civil war.

Acts such as the “deliberate” bombardment of a hospital “constitute war crimes”, said French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.

The Observatory and other opposition activists said another hospital in Maaret al-Numan was also hit Monday, most likely by a Syrian government airstrike.

More than 260,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011.

“We have been moving scores of screaming children from the hospitals”, said medic Juma Rahal.

“They hit the school, they hit the school”, wailed a Syrian woman who was unloaded from an ambulance onto a wheelchair.

The Observatory and al-Halaby said an air raid struck a school in the village of Kaljibrin, near Azaz.

Commenting on the agreement reached last week among the U.S., Russian Federation and other world powers for a temporary cessation of hostilities in Syria, Assad said, “Cease-fires occur between armies and states, but never between a state and terrorists”.

Over the weekend, “Turkish forces shelled Kurdish positions in northern Syria – targeting Kurdish fighters who are seen as allies by the United States”, as Camila reported for the Two-Way.

Syria’s main Kurdish faction, the People’s Protection Units or YPG, has been highly effective in combating the Islamic State group, but Turkey views it as a threat because of its ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Ankara.

Aside from diplomatic considerations and obligations under global humanitarian law, Lake said, “let us remember that these victims are children”.

The Kurdish YPG militia – which Turkey regards as a hostile insurgent force – has exploited the situation, seizing ground from Syrian rebels to extend its presence along the border.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned earlier Monday that Ankara would not let Azaz fall to the SDF, adding that “the necessary intervention will be made”.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said Turkish artillery on Monday fired on Tal Rifaat itself for the first time.

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said that “only a few days ago, all of us including Turkey, sitting around the table decided steps to de-escalate and have a cessation of hostilities”.

The head of the United Nations children’s agency says he is “appalled” at reports of attacks on four medical facilities in Syria – two supported by UNICEF.