Russian warplanes carried out air strikes targeting three hospitals in northwestern Syria, leaving two out of service, according to UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Eight civilians were killed in Russian and Syrian regime shelling in several parts of the region, according to the Observatory, which said that one person was killed during the Russian raids on the hospitals.
Over the past few months, air raids in and around Idlib have escalated.
The Orient Hospital in Kafranbel and Nabd al-Hayat Hospital in Hass town were targeted during Sunday’s attacks, which an AFP cameraman filmed.
"The hospital in Kafranbel is out of order. The patients were transferred to other facilities in the region," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding one civilian was killed in the attacks.
Official at the Syria Relief and Development NGO, Ubaida Dandush said that services were halted at a hospital in Hass following the Russian strikes.
He indicated that the facility had been evacuated shortly before the bombardments thanks to alerts from a warning system set up to analyze the flight paths of warplanes.
Footage filmed by the AFP cameraman showed a white cloud rising over farmland where the hospital is located.
Earlier in April, the United Nations said that a medical center and two hospitals were also out of service due to aerial bombardment and artillery.
Separately on Sunday, the state-owned Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that a civilian was killed in a rocket attack by “terrorist groups” that fired rockets at a regime-controlled area near Idlib.
SANA quoted a military source as saying that “terrorist organizations in Idlib of planning attacks” against regime areas and military positions.
In September 2016, Russia and Turkey signed a deal rendering Idlib a demilitarized zone separating the areas of opposition-held area from adjacent areas controlled by regime forces.
The agreement prevented a large-scale offensive by the Syrian regime, which has continued its strikes on the region.
