Apparent rebel gunners in Syria shelled a hospital in war-battered Aleppo on Tuesday, killing or injuring dozens of people as escalating violence in the city claimed another medical facility, activists and Syria media said.
The attack also underscored the urgency of U.N.-led talks seeking to find ways to halt the clashes and salvage a cease-fire effort in Syria.
A report on Syrian state TV reported dozens of deaths and injuries after the al-Dabit Hospital was hit by rockets in attacks on governmental-held areas of the city, the Reuters news agency reported. But Syrian officials gave no immediate details on the number of casualties.
A British-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the hospital was heavily damaged.
Both Syrian forces and rebel factions opposition President Bashar Assad have stepped up offensives in the past week around Aleppo, the country’s largest city. More than 250 people have been killed, monitoring groups estimate, stirring international outrage and concern that Syria’s civil war could be tumbling into a new round of bloodshed and humanitarian misery.
Last week, at least 14 medical staff and patients were killed in an airstrike on a hospital affiliated with the aid group Doctors Without Borders and the International Committee for the Red Cross. Other clinics and medical sites also have been hit in the battles.
