PHOTO: Remains of car which may have been used in a staged attack by Assad regime on a west Aleppo hospital on Tuesday


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Special: How Regime May Have Staged “Rebel Attack” on Aleppo Hospital…and Fooled World’s Media
Documenting Russia-Regime’s Killing of Aleppo’s Civilians


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UPDATE 1815 GMT: An agreement has been reached with Russia to extend truces in Syria to Aleppo Province and city, the US State Department said.

The State Department said the extension went into effect just after midnight and asserted that there had been an “overall decrease in violence” despite some continued fighting.

The announcement of the truce was delayed because “officials wanted to see how long it would take for the ceasefire to come into effect”, according to Al Jazeera.

The State Department said, “We look to Russia as a co-chair of the International Syria Support Group to press for the Assad regime’s compliance with this effort, and the United States will do its part with the opposition.”

The Syrian military subsequently said that it would observe a 48-hour truce in the city from 1 a.m. on Thursday.

The regime has declared intermittent “regimes of calm” since last Friday in Latakia Province on the Mediterranean and in East Ghouta near Damascus, although the Syrian military’s attempts to advance have continued in the latter area.


UPDATE 1630 GMT: Russia’s Defense Ministry has denied that its air force destroyed the al-Quds Hospital in opposition-held east Aleppo on April 27.

Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said: .

The so-called news story about the bombing of a hospital in Al-Quds was picked up by many international media outlets as an example of failure of the Russian and US-agreed Syrian ceasefire. We checked this information; and today we will show you the real picture based on the reconnaissance data.

Konashenkov then put forth the novel claim, based on the supposed images, that the hospital was already destroyed in October 2015.

Russia, which has damaged or destroyed dozens of medical facilities since its aerial intervention on September 30, has previously claimed that it did not attack hospitals because they do not exist.

At least 55 people, including patients and three doctors, were killed and more than 80 injured when the al-Quds Hospital was hit by two missiles.

See Syria Special: Russia-Regime Airstrike Destroys Aleppo Hospital, Killing 50+

The Russian Defense Ministry initially said on April 28, the day after the attack, that it was carried out by US-led coalition warplanes.

Konashenkov did not explain on Wednesday the contradiction between the April 28 story and his latest claim that there had been no damage since October.


ORIGINAL ENTRY: Rebels advanced in fighting in Aleppo on Tuesday, while the Assad regime — trying to divert blame after its deadly strike on a hospital in the city last week — may have staged the bombing of its own medical facility in a regime-held district.

The main fighting was in the northwest of Syria’s largest city, notably the al-Zahra district. near an Air Force Intelligence building which was destroyed in March 2015.

Pro-opposition outlets claimed the capture of several key positions and significant casualties among regime forces. Rebels claimed a tunnel bomb under a building used by regime troops killed at least eight personnel, including an officer.

The rebel advance checks any regime plans for an offensive against opposition-held Idlib Province and push towards the Turkish border, taking a staging area for the assault.

It came as a reorganized rebel bloc Jaish al-Fateh promised its own offensive in coming days. Jaish al-Fateh was the center of the successful rebel march across Idlib Province and into neighboring Hama Province in spring 2015, a turn in the military conflict which eventually brought Russia’s aerial intervention.

Footage of the rebel attacks:

The moment of the tunnel bomb’s explosion:

Regime Stages Attack on Its Hospital?

Meanwhile, State media renewed its claims that rebels — rather than the Russia and Assad regime, who have killed more than 250 civilians with bombing of Aleppo since April 21 — are responsible for civilian deaths in the city.

State news agency SANA asserted that 16 civilians were killed and 68 were injured with “rocket shells” in regime districts on Tuesday.

SANA initially declared that some of the rockets hit the al-Dhabeet Maternity Hospital, killing three women and injuring 17 women and children.

However, photographs and witnesses indicated that damage was caused not by rockets, mortars, or missiles. Instead, the remains of a car outside the hospital pointed to its use as a bomb. Witnesses, including the director of the hospital, also spoke of a “blast” rather than a rocket or missile strike.

Now see Syria Special: How Regime May Have Staged “Rebel Attack” on Aleppo Hospital…and Fooled World’s Media

Faced with the evidence, State media revised its story, declaring that a shell struck the fuel tank of a military vehicle near the hospital. However, it did not respond to the point, made by pro-opposition outlets, that rebel firing positions were outside the range of the rockets used in the Aleppo conflict.

Al-Dhabeet is well to the south of both the al-Zahra fighting and areas of west Aleppo which State media say have been attacked in the last nine days.

Last week, Russian and/or regime airstrikes and missiles struck the al-Quds Hospital in east Aleppo, killing at least 55 people and wounding 80, and a center of the White Helmets civil defense organization, leaving five rescuers dead.

On Tuesday, the UN Security Council unanimously condemned attacks on medical personnel and called on all parties to ensure their protection.

Footage of regime strikes on opposition districts in Aleppo on Tuesday:

The Local Coordination Committees verified 76 deaths across Syria on Tuesday, 42 of them in Aleppo Province. Opposition areas with casualties included Sukkari‬, ‪‎Bustan_al-Qasr‬, and ‪‎Kalasah‬.


UN: Assad Regime Blocking Our Attempts to Aid Besieged Areas

The UN has reconfirmed that the Assad regime is refusing its attempts to deliver aid to besieged areas and to the city of Aleppo.

“We seem to be having new possible besieged areas on our watch, we are having hundreds of relief workers unable to move in Aleppo,” the UN’s humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland told reporters on Wednesday. “It is a disgrace to see that while the population of Aleppo is bleeding, their options to flee have never been more difficult than now.”

The regime provided limited cooperation after a February 27 cessation of hostilities. In April, the UN reached 40% of people in besieged areas in Syria, compared to 5% in the whole of 2015. However, entry was denied to some areas, such as the town of Darayya, southwest of Damascus.

And in May, requests to the regime to approve aid convoys to six remaining besieged areas have not been met. Egeland said officials refused to allow aid for about 50% of the 905,000 people in besieged and hard-to-reach areas, including opposition-held eastern Aleppo city, while “major conditions” were put on aid for 50% of those who did get assistance.


Some Detainees Released from Hama Prison Amid Protests and Siege

Some detainees have been released from Hama Prison following their protests on Monday and a subsequent siege by security forces.

One claim says 30 inmates were freed, with some going to the rebel-held town of Qalaat al-Madiq.

The detainees’ protest was sparked by the movement of some prisoners for execution. As they took control of the facility, security forces ringed the facility.

Image of the released men:

HAMA PRISONERS FREED

Footage of the gathering forces: