BEIRUT — An airstrike on a medical facility in northern Syria has killed at least five staff members, the medical relief organization that runs the facility said today.

The Paris-based International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, known by its French initials UOSSM, said the attack Tuesday night leveled a medical triage point it operates in rebel-held territory outside the contested city of Aleppo.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said at least 13 people were killed in the attack, including nine militants, some of them belonging to the al-Qaida-linked Fatah al-Sham Front.

The U.S. office of UOSSM said two nurses and two ambulance drivers were killed and one nurse remained in a critical condition following the attack on the medical facility in Khan Touman. UOSSM said the nurse later died of her injuries.

It said two of its ambulances, which are run by UOSSM and the World Health Organization, were destroyed and the three-story building collapsed.

"This is a deplorable act against health care workers and medical facilities," said Dr. Khaula Sawah, the head of UOSSM USA.

There were no reports on who was behind the strike.

The medical facility attack follows a Monday night airstrike on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy that prompted international condemnation and recrimination over attacks targeting humanitarian facilities and workers. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the convoy strike as a "sickening, savage and apparently deliberate attack." The convoy was carrying aid materials from the U.N.

The incident exposed rising tensions between the two architects of Syria's cease-fire deal, Russia and the U.S. The U.S. said it believed Russian or Syrian government jets were behind the attack that killed 20 civilians, and that either way it held Russia responsible because under the truce deal Moscow was charged with preventing airstrikes on humanitarian deliveries. Syria's rebels do not operate an air force.

In New York on Tuesday, Russian and U.S. diplomats insisted that the Syrian cease-fire, which went into effect nine days ago, was not dead, despite indications of soaring violence. The Syrian military declared Monday night the truce had expired, shortly before presumed Russian or Syrian government jets launched a sustained aerial attack on Aleppo's opposition-held neighborhoods.

The cease-fire was intended in part to allow humanitarian convoys to reach besieged and hard-to-reach areas throughout Syria. Yet following the convoy attack, the U.N. suspended overland aid operations to hard-to-reach areas in Syria. Syrians living in opposition areas will be disproportionately affected because the U.N.'s major warehouses are located in government-held areas. The U.N. estimates 6 million Syrians live in besieged and hard-to-reach areas.</s>An air strike in northern Syria that killed five members of medical staff hit a mobile emergency unit and not a medical facility, a relief organisation said.

The mobile medical team was hit while responding to an earlier air strike targeting militants from the al Qaeda-linked Fatah al-Sham Front, Dr Oubaida Al Moufti, vice-president of the International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations said.

The organisation, known by its French initials UOSSM, had initially said the Tuesday night strike levelled a medical triage point it operates in rebel-held territory outside the contested city of Aleppo.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said at least 13 people were killed in the attack, including nine militants, some of them belonging to the Fatah al-Sham Front.

Three nurses and two ambulance drivers died of their injuries, UOSSM said.

There were no reports on who was behind the strike.

The strike follows a Monday night air strike on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy that prompted international condemnation and recrimination over attacks targeting humanitarian facilities and workers.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon described the convoy strike as a “sickening, savage and apparently deliberate attack”. The convoy was carrying aid materials from the UN.

The incident exposed rising tensions between the two architects of Syria’s ceasefire deal, Russia and the US.

The US said it believed Russian or Syrian government jets were behind the attack that killed 20 civilians, and that either way it held Russia responsible because under the truce deal Moscow was charged with preventing air strikes on humanitarian deliveries. Syria’s rebels do not operate an air force.

In New York on Tuesday, Russian and US diplomats insisted that the Syrian ceasefire, which went into effect nine days ago, was not dead, despite indications of soaring violence.

The Syrian military declared Monday night the truce had expired, shortly before presumed Russian or Syrian government jets launched a sustained aerial attack on Aleppo’s opposition-held neighbourhoods.

The ceasefire was intended in part to allow humanitarian convoys to reach besieged and hard-to-reach areas throughout Syria. Yet following the convoy attack, the UN suspended overland aid operations to hard-to-reach areas in Syria.

Syrians living in opposition areas will be disproportionately affected because the UN’s major warehouses are located in government-held areas.

The UN estimates six million Syrians live in besieged and hard-to-reach areas.</s>BEIRUT — A medical relief organization says four of its staff have been killed in an attack on a medical facility in Syria.

The International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations says an airstrike Tuesday night in northern Syria leveled a medical triage point in rebel-held territory outside the contested city of Aleppo.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group puts the toll at 13 dead, among them four nurses and paramedics and nine rebel fighters, some of them belonging to the al-Qaida-linked Fatah al-Sham Front.

It says the triage point was located in the rebel-held town of Khan Touman, south of Aleppo.

There were no reports on who was behind the strike.</s>BEIRUT (AP) - An airstrike on a medical facility in northern Syria has killed at least five staff members, the medical relief organization that runs the facility said Wednesday.

The Paris-based International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, known by its French initials UOSSM, said the attack Tuesday night leveled a medical triage point it operates in rebel-held territory outside the contested city of Aleppo.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said at least 13 people were killed in the attack, including nine terrorists, some of them belonging to the al-Qaida-linked Fatah al-Sham Front.

The U.S. office of UOSSM said two nurses and two ambulance drivers were killed and one nurse remained in a critical condition following the attack on the medical facility in Khan Touman. UOSSM said the nurse later died of her injuries.

It said two of its ambulances, which are run by UOSSM and the World Health Organization, were destroyed and the three-story building collapsed.

“This is a deplorable act against health care workers and medical facilities,” said Dr. Khaula Sawah, the head of UOSSM USA.

There were no reports on who was behind the strike.

The medical facility attack follows a Monday night airstrike on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy that prompted international condemnation and recrimination over attacks targeting humanitarian facilities and workers. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the convoy strike as a “sickening, savage and apparently deliberate attack.” The convoy was carrying aid materials from the U.N.

The incident exposed rising tensions between the two architects of Syria’s ceasefire deal, Russia and the U.S. The U.S. said it believed Russian or Syrian government jets were behind the attack that killed 20 civilians, and that either way it held Russia responsible because under the truce deal Moscow was charged with preventing airstrikes on humanitarian deliveries. Syria’s rebels do not operate an air force.

In New York on Tuesday, Russian and U.S. diplomats insisted that the Syrian ceasefire, which went into effect nine days ago, was not dead, despite indications of soaring violence. The Syrian military declared Monday night the truce had expired, shortly before presumed Russian or Syrian government jets launched a sustained aerial attack on Aleppo’s opposition-held neighborhoods.

The ceasefire was intended in part to allow humanitarian convoys to reach besieged and hard-to-reach areas throughout Syria. Yet following the convoy attack, the U.N. suspended overland aid operations to hard-to-reach areas in Syria. Syrians living in opposition areas will be disproportionately affected because the U.N.’s major warehouses are located in government-held areas. The U.N. estimates 6 million Syrians live in besieged and hard-to-reach areas.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — A medical relief organization says four of its staff have been killed in an attack on a medical facility in Syria.

The International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations says an airstrike Tuesday night in northern Syria leveled a medical triage point in rebel-held territory outside the contested city of Aleppo.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group puts the toll at 13 dead, among them four nurses and paramedics and nine rebel fighters, some of them belonging to the al-Qaida-linked Fatah al-Sham Front.

It says the triage point was located in the rebel-held town of Khan Touman, south of Aleppo.

There were no reports on who was behind the strike.</s>An air strike on a medical facility in northern Syria has killed at least five staff members, the medical relief organisation that runs the facility has said.

The Paris-based International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations, known by its French initials UOSSM, said the attack Tuesday night levelled a medical triage point it operates in rebel-held territory outside the contested city of Aleppo.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said at least 13 people were killed in the attack, including nine militants, some of them belonging to the Jabhat al-Nusra group.

The US office of UOSSM said two nurses and two ambulance drivers were killed and one nurse remained in a critical condition following the attack on the medical facility in Khan Touman. UOSSM said the nurse later died of her injuries.

It said two of its ambulances, which are run by UOSSM and the World Health Organization, were destroyed and the three-story building collapsed.

“This is a deplorable act against health care workers and medical facilities,” said Dr Khaula Sawah, the head of UOSSM USA.

There were no reports on who was behind the strike.

The medical facility attack follows a Monday night airstrike on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy that prompted international condemnation and recrimination over attacks targeting humanitarian facilities and workers. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the convoy strike as a “sickening, savage and apparently deliberate attack.” The convoy was carrying aid materials from the UN

The incident exposed rising tensions between the two architects of Syria's cease-fire deal, Russia and the US The US said it believed Russian or Syrian government jets were behind the attack that killed 20 civilians, and that either way it held Russia responsible because under the truce deal Moscow was charged with preventing airstrikes on humanitarian deliveries. Syria's rebels do not operate an air force.

In New York on Tuesday, Russian and US diplomats insisted that the Syrian ceasefire, which went into effect nine days ago, was not dead, despite indications of soaring violence. The Syrian military declared Monday night the truce had expired, shortly before presumed Russian or Syrian government jets launched a sustained aerial attack on Aleppo's opposition-held neighborhoods.

The cease-fire was intended in part to allow humanitarian convoys to reach besieged and hard-to-reach areas throughout Syria. Yet following the convoy attack, the UN suspended overland aid operations to hard-to-reach areas in Syria. Syrians living in opposition areas will be disproportionately affected because the UN's major warehouses are located in government-held areas. The UN estimates 6 million Syrians live in besieged and hard-to-reach areas.</s>Image copyright AFP Image caption The air strike came a day after an attack on an aid convoy in nearby Urum al-Kubra

An air strike on a medical facility near the Syrian city of Aleppo has killed five employees of an international aid agency, the group says, including nurses.

There have been heavy air raids in and around Aleppo as the United Nations prepares to discuss the failed Syrian ceasefire.

The attack came a day after an aid convoy was targeted in a nearby raid.

Twenty people were killed in that attack, which the US blames on Russia.

The assault, on Monday, destroyed 18 lorries and has been described as a possible war crime.

Russia has 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 Paris-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM) said Tuesday's strike on its facility near Aleppo appeared to be targeted.

At least nine rebel fighters were also killed, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

The two successive attacks were "not a coincidence," UOSSM's Dr Zaydoun al Zoubi told the BBC.

"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.

He called for the truce to be restored.

Separately, a Syrian warplane has crashed north of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says. The so-called Islamic State group said the plane had been bombing its positions but did not claim they shot it down.

Buried under rubble

It is unclear who carried out the attack on the medical centre in the rebel-held town of Khan Touman late on Tuesday night local time.

The Syrian Observatory said either Syrian or Russian warplanes were responsible, Reuters news agency reports.

The 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 (in French).

A fifth medic is thought to have died later of their wounds.

The triage centre was completely destroyed. More victims are feared buried under the rubble.

The 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.

Image copyright EPA Image caption The convoy had been unloading aid at a warehouse when it was attacked

Blame game

Speaking about Monday's attack on the aid convoy, unnamed US officials said the strike was too sophisticated to have been carried out by the Syrian army.

Later, White House spokesman Ben Rhodes said: "There only could have been two entities responsible, either the Syrian regime or the Russian government.

"In any event, we hold the Russian government responsible for airstrikes in this space."

Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman said the US government had "no facts" to support its claim.

"There are no craters and the exterior of the vehicles do not have the kind of damage consistent with blasts caused by bombs dropped from the air," a statement from the defence ministry said.

However photographs show at least one crater, in a warehouse.

The UN had earlier said it was "not in a position to determine whether these were in fact air strikes".

Image copyright AFP Image caption Pictures from Monday's attack site appears to show a crater, contradicting Russian claims that there are none

Monday's attack prompted the UN to suspend all aid convoys in Syria.

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, denounced it as a "flagrant violation of international humanitarian law" and said it could amount to a war crime.

It occurred hours after the Syrian military declared the end of a week-long truce agreed by the US and Russia.

The UN Security Council is due to discuss efforts to salvage the truce later on Wednesday.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Syrian activist: 'Helicopter dropped bombs on aid convoy'</s>An airstrike on a medical facility in northern Syria has left at least four staff dead, the medical relief organization that runs the facility said Wednesday.

The Paris-based International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, known by its French initials UOSSM, said the attack Tuesday night levelled a medical triage point it operates in rebel-held territory outside the contested city of Aleppo.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said at least 13 people were killed in the attack, including nine militants, some of them belonging to the al-Qaida-linked Fatah al-Sham Front.

The U.S. office of UOSSM said two nurses and two ambulance drivers were killed and one nurse remained in a critical condition following the attack on the medical facility in Khan Touman. It said two of its ambulances, which are run by UOSSM and the World Health Organization, were destroyed and the three-story building collapsed.

“This is a deplorable act against health care workers and medical facilities,” said Dr. Khaula Sawah, the head of UOSSM USA.

There were no reports on who was behind the strike.

The medical facility attack follows a Monday night airstrike on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy that prompted international condemnation and recrimination over attacks targeting humanitarian facilities and workers. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the convoy strike as a “sickening, savage and apparently deliberate attack.” The convoy was carrying aid materials from the U.N.

The incident exposed rising tensions between the two architects of Syria’s cease-fire deal, Russia and the U.S. The U.S. said it believed Russian or Syrian government jets were behind the attack that killed 20 civilians, and that either way it held Russia responsible because under the truce deal Moscow was charged with preventing airstrikes on humanitarian deliveries. Syria’s rebels do not operate an air force.

In New York on Tuesday, Russian and U.S. diplomats insisted that the Syrian cease-fire, which went into effect nine days ago, was not dead, despite indications of soaring violence. The Syrian military declared Monday night the truce had expired, shortly before presumed Russian or Syrian government jets launched a sustained aerial attack on Aleppo’s opposition-held neighbourhoods.

The cease-fire was intended in part to allow humanitarian convoys to reach besieged and hard-to-reach areas throughout Syria. Yet following the convoy attack, the U.N. suspended overland aid operations to hard-to-reach areas in Syria. Syrians living in opposition areas will be disproportionately affected because the U.N.’s major warehouses are located in government-held areas. The U.N. estimates 6 million Syrians live in besieged and hard-to-reach areas.</s>The Paris-based International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, known by its French initials UOSSM, said the attack Tuesday night leveled a medical triage point it operates in rebel-held territory outside the contested city of Aleppo.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said at least 13 people were killed in the attack, including nine militants, some of them belonging to the al-Qaida-linked Fatah al-Sham Front.

The U.S. office of UOSSM said two nurses and two ambulance drivers were killed and one nurse remained in a critical condition following the attack on the medical facility in Khan Touman. It said two of its ambulances, which are run by UOSSM and the World Health Organization, were destroyed and the three-story building collapsed.

“This is a deplorable act against health care workers and medical facilities,” said Dr. Khaula Sawah, the head of UOSSM USA.

There were no reports on who was behind the strike.

The medical facility attack follows a Monday night airstrike on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy that prompted international condemnation and recrimination over attacks targeting humanitarian facilities and workers. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the convoy strike as a “sickening, savage and apparently deliberate attack.” The convoy was carrying aid materials from the U.N.

The incident exposed rising tensions between the two architects of Syria’s cease-fire deal, Russia and the U.S. The U.S. said it believed Russian or Syrian government jets were behind the attack that killed 20 civilians, and that either way it held Russia responsible because under the truce deal Moscow was charged with preventing airstrikes on humanitarian deliveries. Syria’s rebels do not operate an air force.

In New York on Tuesday, Russian and U.S. diplomats insisted that the Syrian cease-fire, which went into effect nine days ago, was not dead, despite indications of soaring violence. The Syrian military declared Monday night the truce had expired, shortly before presumed Russian or Syrian government jets launched a sustained aerial attack on Aleppo’s opposition-held neighborhoods.

The cease-fire was intended in part to allow humanitarian convoys to reach besieged and hard-to-reach areas throughout Syria. Yet following the convoy attack, the U.N. suspended overland aid operations to hard-to-reach areas in Syria. Syrians living in opposition areas will be disproportionately affected because the U.N.‘s major warehouses are located in government-held areas. The U.N. estimates 6 million Syrians live in besieged and hard-to-reach areas.</s>An airstrike on a medical facility in northern Syria has left at least four staff dead, the medical relief organization that runs the facility said Wednesday.

The Paris-based International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, known by its French initials UOSSM, said the attack Tuesday night levelled a medical triage point it operates in rebel-held territory outside the contested city of Aleppo.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said at least 13 people were killed in the attack, including nine militants, some of them belonging to the al-Qaida-linked Fatah al-Sham Front.

The U.S. office of UOSSM said two nurses and two ambulance drivers were killed and one nurse remained in a critical condition following the attack on the medical facility in Khan Touman. It said two of its ambulances, which are run by UOSSM and the World Health Organization, were destroyed and the three-story building collapsed.

“This is a deplorable act against health care workers and medical facilities,” said Dr. Khaula Sawah, the head of UOSSM USA.

There were no reports on who was behind the strike.

The medical facility attack follows a Monday night airstrike on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy that prompted international condemnation and recrimination over attacks targeting humanitarian facilities and workers. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the convoy strike as a “sickening, savage and apparently deliberate attack.” The convoy was carrying aid materials from the U.N.

The incident exposed rising tensions between the two architects of Syria’s cease-fire deal, Russia and the U.S. The U.S. said it believed Russian or Syrian government jets were behind the attack that killed 20 civilians, and that either way it held Russia responsible because under the truce deal Moscow was charged with preventing airstrikes on humanitarian deliveries. Syria’s rebels do not operate an air force.

In New York on Tuesday, Russian and U.S. diplomats insisted that the Syrian cease-fire, which went into effect nine days ago, was not dead, despite indications of soaring violence. The Syrian military declared Monday night the truce had expired, shortly before presumed Russian or Syrian government jets launched a sustained aerial attack on Aleppo’s opposition-held neighbourhoods.

The cease-fire was intended in part to allow humanitarian convoys to reach besieged and hard-to-reach areas throughout Syria. Yet following the convoy attack, the U.N. suspended overland aid operations to hard-to-reach areas in Syria. Syrians living in opposition areas will be disproportionately affected because the U.N.’s major warehouses are located in government-held areas. The U.N. estimates 6 million Syrians live in besieged and hard-to-reach areas.
An airstrike yesterday on a medical facility near Aleppo kills five French medical charity workers.