By Khaled Suleiman
ALEPPO, (AA): The largest field hospital in opposition-held Aleppo city was destroyed Saturday by barrel bomb attacks carried out by Syrian regime forces, according to local civil defense sources.
A regime helicopter dropped barrel bombs on the hospital in al-Sakhour district, leaving it along with a number of ambulances totally destroyed, the sources, who spoke anonymously due to security concerns, said.
Meanwhile, the ceasefire regime in Syria has been violated by rebel armed groups 71 times over the last 24 hours, including 45 times in the Aleppo province, 18 times in Damascus, five times in Latakia and three times in Hama, the Russian Center for reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria said in an informational bulletin published on the Russian Defense Ministry’s website on Sunday. [for more details: http://tass.com/world/903560?_ga=1.255644097.853513036.1474374240 ]
Marwan Salim, an Aleppo-based activist, said a number of people were reportedly killed and injured in the attack.
“Russian jets and Government forces are simultaneously bombarding al-Sakhour district,” he told Anadolu Agency.
“Eastern areas in Aleppo city have been under intense attacks for 10 days. Russians attack using cluster bombs while regime uses barrel bombs,” Salim said.
Since Sept. 19, when the Bashar al-Assad regime announced the end of a week-long truce sponsored by Washington and Moscow, Syrian and Russian warplanes have pounded opposition-held parts of Aleppo.
Scores of civilians have reportedly been killed or injured in the attacks, which remain ongoing.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests — which erupted as part of the “Arab Spring” uprisings — with unexpected ferocity.
The Syrian Center for Policy Research, a Beirut-based NGO, has put the total death toll from the five-year conflict at more than 470,000.
[Photo: An inside view of Sahra Hospital after a barrel bomb strike by Syrian regime forces over Sahur neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria on October 01, 2016. Photographer: Ibrahim Ebu Leys/AA]
