Russian And Syrian Air Forces Bombing Aleppo, And They’ve Already Destroyed All The Hospitals

November 21, 2016
Syrian Aya Sharqawi, 6, wounded in an airstrike in her hometown of Tel Rifaat, Syria, lays on her bed at a hospital in Kilis, Turkey, Feb. 9, 2016. | Business Insider

Live Updates: The previous post in our Putin in Syria column can be found here.


Nearly One Hundred Documented Deaths Across Syria On Sunday: Monitoring Group

The Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCC), an activist group which has been confirming and documenting casualties and other events in Syria since the start of the conflict, reports that nearly one hundred people were killed nationwide yesterday, many of them having been killed by Russian and Syrian air strikes. Here is their summary of the events of November 20:

By the end of Sunday, November 20, 2016, LCC has documented the fall of 97 martyrs, including 20 children and 6 women. 

66 martyrs from #Aleppo , including 14 children and 3 women, most of them passed away as Assad’s forces targeted Gazi Aintep road with thermobaric missiles and due to bombardment on the sieged neighborhoods of Aleppo, in addition to the martyrs during the clashes with Assad’s forces and Daesh. 

15 from #Damascus_and_its_Suburbs , including 4 children and a woman, and most of them passed away as Assad’s forces shelled #Douma , #Irbin , and #Harasta in Eastern Ghouta. 

12 from #Idlib , including 2 children and 2 women.

2 from #Homs .

1 from #Deir_Ezzour

1 from #Daraa .

The  LCC is posting more alarming news today. According to a report that is two hours old, heavy ground battles have been fought in eastern Aleppo as well as the eastern suburbs of Damascus, both places where various anti-Assad rebel groups are trying to push back against fresh offensives launched by the pro-Assad coalition. 

But behind all of that fighting, civilians are paying the price. The LCC says that barrel bombs, some containing chlorine, have been dropped across eastern Aleppo. “Parachute missile attacks,” possibly a layman’s term for thermobaric weapons, have reportedly been dropped by the Russian air force. Russian thermobaric attacks have also been reported in Idlib, Hama and Lattakia provinces, and Russian air strikes have reportedly hit Douma, a major suburb of Damascus. Heavy fighting and bombardment has also reportedly cost lives in Homs, and civilians were reportedly injured in Dara’a. 

Meanwhile, the LCC reports that the international coalition fighting the Islamic State has conducted an attack in al-Raqqah and civilians have been killed.

There Are No More Hospitals In Eastern Aleppo

According to multiple aid groups, including the Syrian American Medical Society, there is no longer a single operational hospital in all of eastern Aleppo — where most of the fighting is happening. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) now warns that at least 250,000 civilians, in the part of Aleppo that is receiving the heaviest bombing, have no access to medical facilities. 

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There are no more working hospitals in eastern Aleppo

Geneva (AFP) – There are no more functioning hospitals in the rebel-held eastern part of Syria's Aleppo, where more than 250,000 people are living under siege and many need urgent medical care, the UN has said.

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Nov 21, 2016 22:49 (GMT)

And yet the videos coming out of Syria today show more destruction. Despite the fact that rescue workers continue to pull bodies out of the rubble, it’s not clear where the wounded can receive treatment. 
Just days ago an Al Jazeera camera crew was recording the aftermath of some sort of gas attack when the hospital they were filming in was hit by an air strike. The video shows the hospital workers scrambling to save infants who were receiving medical attention at the time of the blast. 

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Syria war: Air raid hits children's hospital in Aleppo

An air raid has hit a children's hospital in Syria's rebel-held east Aleppo, forcing medical staff to evacuate patients, including several newborn babies still in incubators. The moment of the attack on Friday was captured by an Al Jazeera crew, including journalist Amro Halabi, who was reporting on survivors of previous Syrian and Russian bombing raids on rebel-held parts of the city.

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Nov 21, 2016 22:55 (GMT)

Russia has allegedly used bunker-buster bombs to target field hospitals which have been moved underground for safety. This is just one reason why many observers believe that Russia and the Assad government are not just bombing these hospitals by accident, but are deliberately hunting medical facilities and aid workers.

James Miller