PHOTO: Hand of a victim buried under rubble of an Idlib Province hospital hit by Russian airstrike on Monday
After Russia’s deadly bombing of hospitals and schools in opposition-held Idlib Province in northwest Syria on Monday, authorities have closed civilian facilities.
Mohamed a-Shamali, a citizen journalist in southern Idlib Province, told Syria Direct that the South Idlib Unified Observatory issued the order. The Observatory monitors the movement of warplanes and, using rado transmitters, warns residents of potential airstrikes.
About 50 people were killed in Russia’s attacks on four hospitals and two schools in Idlib and Aleppo Provinces. Moscow is bombing civilian areas as well as rebel positions in support of both Kurdish and regime-Hezbollah-Iranian offensives in northern Aleppo Province.
Two of the hospitals were supported by the UN children’s agency UNICEF, one by Medecins Sans Frontieres, and by the French-based Syria Charity.
See Syria Videos and Pictures: Latest Russian Airstrikes on Hospitals and a School
Shamali said of the halt to services:
They will create a health crisis for everyone, including both fighters and civilians. Where are the injured supposed to go for treatment? Children? Where will women in labor go to give birth?
And then you have the school closures. If we continue as we are now, an entire generation is going to miss out on an education.
Emergency cases can be treated in two underground “bunker hospitals” in northern Hama Province, but there is not enough capacity to handle all patients, particularly if Russian bombardment continues.
Asked “”How long will the closures be in place?”, Shamali replied:
Indefinitely. The facilities will be reopened when the Russian bombings stop.
