BEIRUT -- Doctors and nurses at a pediatric hospital in eastern Aleppo scrambled Friday to evacuate babies in incubators to safety from underground shelters after the facility in the besieged Syrian city was bombed for the second time this week. Medics and aid workers also reported what was believed to be an attack involving toxic gas in a district on the western edge of the rebel-held area. At least 12 people, including children, were treated for breathing difficulties, said Adham Sahloul of the Syrian American Medical Society, which supports health facilities in Aleppo. Claims of toxic-gas attacks are common in Syria, and reports by international inspectors have held the government responsible for using chemicals in attacks on civilians, which Damascus denies. Friday was the fourth day of renewed assaults by Syrian warplanes on eastern Aleppo districts, a rebel-held enclave of 275,000 people. The onslaught began Tuesday when Syria's ally Russia announced its own offensive on the northern rebel-controlled Idlib province and on the Homs province in central Syria. Friday's airstrikes in Aleppo hit a complex of four hospitals that had been attacked two days earlier. The latest strikes forced the pediatric hospital and a neighboring facility to stop operating. "Now it is being bombed. I am sorry. I have to go to transfer the children," the head of the pediatric hospital wrote in a text message to The Associated Press. The doctor identified himself only by his first name of Hatem because he fears for reprisals against his family. The incubators already had been moved underground for safety, but with bombs falling all around the facility, hospital workers had to rush them to a safer place despite the danger. Artillery shelling

Elsewhere in Syria, in Ghouta in the Damascus countryside, at least 10 people were killed and dozens injured in air strikes and artillery shelling by government forces. "But thank God we were not hurt." The cameras of Al-Jazeera, which was broadcasting from the facility as the airstrikes occurred, went dark for a moment. When video resumed, dust was swirling and debris was strewn in the corridors. Nurses scurried to get babies to safety, and one was seen carrying a blanket-wrapped infant. She then hugged and comforted another nurse who was sobbing as she picked up a baby. Another hospital in a different Aleppo neighborhood was bombed Thursday night, the doctor said. The entrance was set on fire, but no one was hurt. Government bombings have targeted neighborhoods with medical facilities, including the children's hospital and a nearby clinic that has one of the few remaining intensive care units in eastern Aleppo, the Observatory said. Many hospitals and clinics in the besieged area have moved their operations underground after months of relentless bombardment. The World Health Organization said that in 2016, it recorded 126 attacks on health facilities, a common tactic over the five years of Syria's civil war. Russia is a crucial ally of the Syrian government and its military has been targeting Syrian opposition fighters with air strikes and cruise missiles. Ibrahim al-Haj, a member of the Syria Civil Defense rescue unit in Aleppo, said the city "is a mess." The group of rescuers and first responders said they are struggling to put out fires set off by the bombings in at least 10 areas. "Our dear people living in east Aleppo, the militants kill your children and take your women," read the text message, which declared the government's intent to retake opposition-controlled districts of the city.
Media reports say a hospital in Aleppo neighborhood is bombed on night by the Syrian government.