Paris (Online): An air strike on a clinic near Aleppo has killed four employees of an international medical aid agency, the French group says on Wednesday.
\nThe Paris-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM) said the strike appeared to be targeted.
\nAt least nine rebel fighters were also killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
\nThe attack came a day after an aid convoy was targeted in a deadly attack nearby.
\nThe US said it holds Russia responsible for Monday’s attack, which destroyed 18 lorries, killed about 20 civilians and has been described as a possible war crime.
\nBut Russia strongly denied involvement of its own or Syrian planes, and said the incident was caused by fire on the ground and not by an air strike. The two successive attacks were “not a coincidence,” UOSSM CEO Dr Zaydoun al Zoubi said.
\n“Somebody is trying to tell us humanitarian workers are not welcome in Syria, that we are a target, that we will be killed,” he said.
\nSeparately, a Syrian warplane has crashed north of Damascus, the UK-based Syrian Observatory says. The so-called Islamic State group said the plane had been bombing its positions but did not claim they shot it down.
\nIt is unclear who carried out the attack on the medical centre in the rebel-held town of Khan Touman late Tuesday night local time.
\nThe Syrian Observatory said either Syrian or Russian warplanes were responsible, Reuters news agency reports.
\nThe strike hit a medical triage point, and killed two ambulance drivers and two nurses who had arrived to transport wounded patients to a more advanced medical facility, UOSSM said in a statement.
\nAnother nurse remains in a critical condition and the medical centre was completely destroyed. More victims are feared buried under the rubble.
\nThe rebels killed were from Jaish al-Fatah, an Islamist group not officially part of the Western-backed alliance but one that works alongside the Free Syrian Army, the BBC’s James Longman in Beirut reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paris (Online): An air strike on a clinic near Aleppo has killed four employees of an international medical aid agency, the French group says on Wednesday. The Paris-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM) said the strike appeared to be targeted. At least nine rebel fighters were also killed, the Syrian Observatory for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3800","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n