Russia pushes back against reports its planes bombed hospital in Syria
(about 2 hours later)
BAGHDAD — The United Nations’ special envoy for Syria met with the Syrian foreign minister Tuesday in Damascus to discuss “unhindered” humanitarian access to besieged populations as world powers push for a halt to hostilities in the five-year conflict.
MOSCOW — Russia on Tuesday denied reports that its warplanes carried out a deadly strike on a hospital in northern Syria the previous day, a government spokesman said, complicating efforts to broker a cease-fire as the United Nations’ top Syria envoy arrived in Damascus to push for greater humanitarian access.
Staffan de Mistura’s surprise visit to the Syrian capital came just one day after devastating attacks on hospitals in the country’s north that U.N. agencies blamed on the Syrian government and its allies.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the reports that Russian planes had struck the hospital “unfounded accusations” and pointed to a statement from Syria’s ambassador to Russia that U.S. warplanes were responsible. The United States is conducting airstrikes in Syria against suspected Islamic State targets.
U.N. spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told a news briefing in Geneva that de Mistura also discussed with the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, the possibility of resuming peace talks later this month, Reuters reported from Geneva.
At least seven people were killed in the strike Monday morning, according to the nonprofit aid group Doctors Without Borders, which runs the hospital. U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said the strike “may amount to a war crime.”
“We are witnessing a degradation on the ground that cannot wait,” Fawzi said at the Swiss news briefing.
[Nearly 50 people killed in strikes on hospitals and schools in Syria]
[Syrian chaos possible aid to Islamic State]
The statements came as the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, met with Syria’s foreign minister in the capital, Damascus, on Tuesday. De Mistura pressed for “unhindered” access to besieged populations across Syria, spokeswoman Jessy Chahine said.
Violence in Syria has continued unabated despite an agreement last week by several countries, including the United States and Russia, on a pause in the fighting.
The U.N. envoy said later in a statement that he had a “useful meeting” with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem.
At least two schools and four hospitals — one supported by Doctors Without Borders — were hit Monday in what the humanitarian organization described as a “deliberate attack” on its facilities.
The priority for the United Nations is “humanitarian access to besieged areas, by anyone who is besieging it,” de Mistura said, adding that it was “the duty of the government of Syria” to reach Syrian civilians under siege.
U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville condemned the strikes.
In northern Syria, at least two schools and four hospitals were hit by airstrikes on Monday, according to the United Nations.
“Clearly Syrian and Russian planes are very active in this area; they should know who is responsible,” he said, according to Reuters. “If it was deliberate, intentional targeting of those facilities, it could amount to a war crime.”
UNICEF, the U.N. fund for children, said Tuesday it was still trying to assess the impact of strikes on two hospitals in the north the day before. Video footage of the aftermath at one of the facilities — a children’s and maternity hospital — showed babies crying in incubators, their monitor alarms ringing.
De Mistura discussed efforts to get “unhindered humanitarian access” to areas of Syria cut off by fighting and airstrikes, according to his spokeswoman, Jessy Chahine. A follow-up meeting with the Syrian foreign minister was planned for later Tuesday, she said.
“UNICEF staff are working with our partners to verify the number of casualties, including children killed and injured in the attacks,” UNICEF spokesman Kieran Dwyer said.
De Mistura is also attempting to bring the parties involved in the conflict back to the negotiating table in Geneva for a new round of talks scheduled to start Feb. 25. Talks earlier in the month were suspended after only three days.
“It’s completely outrageous,” Colville said in Geneva on Tuesday, the Reuters news agency reported. “All the norms and rules and standards on conduct of warfare have just been swept aside in Syria.”
The fighting has intensified in the country since Syrian government forces — including Iraqi and Iranian fighters backed by Russia — advanced on rebel positions in the north this month.
Russia intervened in the five-year-old conflict to prevent its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, from being toppled by rebels.
The government’s gains came as Russia and the United States met in Geneva for peace talks, which swiftly collapsed. De Mistura is working to bring stakeholders back to the table for a new round of talks starting Feb. 25.
“We are witnessing a degradation on the ground that cannot wait,” U.N. spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said Tuesday in Geneva, according to Reuters.
[Battered Aleppo latest stage for Syria’s proxy war]
[Battered Aleppo latest stage for Syria’s proxy war]
With Russian warplanes backing their offensive, Syrian government and allied forces — which include Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian fighters, as well as some Iraqi Shiite militiamen — have advanced in recent weeks. As its allies on the ground lose territory, Saudi Arabia has said it is willing to send in special forces. Riyadh is a main backer of rebel factions seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
But in comments carried by Syria’s state-run news agency SANA, Assad said it is unlikely the fighting will stop.
Assad said Monday he does not believe a cease-fire is possible within a week and that it would not mean laying down arms in any case.
“Regarding a cease-fire, a halt to operations, if it happened, it doesn’t mean that each party will stop using weapons,” he said.
“Regarding a cease-fire, a halt to operations, if it happened, it doesn't mean that each party will stop using weapons," he said in comments carried by Syria’s state news agency.
Hashim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the Iraqi Shiite militia Harakat al-Nujaba, which has fighters battling for Assad in Syria, said the pro-government forces were in a position of strength. “We’ve proved that we still have the upper hand,” he said.
“A cease-fire means in the first place halting the terrorists from strengthening their positions,” the statement said.
Moussawi said it was “too early” to talk about a cease-fire.
In Moscow, the Kremlin denied Tuesday that it was behind the airstrikes that destroyed a hospital in northern Idlib province a day earlier.
“There’s a war,” he said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group monitoring the Syrian conflict, said Russian planes bombed the hospital, killing nine.
Morris reported from Baghdad. Erin Cunningham in Cairo and Daniela Deane in London contributed to this report.
“Every time these claims are made, their authors are unable to support their unfounded accusations in any way,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
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He pointed to an accusation Monday from Syria’s ambassador to Russia that Americans had conducted the attack. U.S.-led warplanes are conducting airstrikes in Syria against suspected Islamic State targets.
The current chaos in Syria may help the Islamic State
[As Syrian rebels give up ground, hopes also left on battlefield]
Syrian rebels are losing Aleppo and perhaps also the war
Fueling fears that Syria could be on the edge of an even broader conflagration, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have warned that they might send ground forces into Syria, which the head of a Russian-led security alliance warned could lead to Russian airstrikes on Turkish and Saudi troops.
Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Such an intervention could lead to “a direct military collision between the region’s states,” said the secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Nikolai Bordyuzha, the Interfax news agency reported.
UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency, said Tuesday it was still trying to assess the impact of strikes on two hospitals in northern Syria after they were attacked Monday. One of the facilities was children’s and maternity hospital.
Video of the aftermath of the attack showed babies crying in incubators, their monitor alarms ringing.
“UNICEF staff are working with our partners to verify the number of casualties, including children, killed and injured in the attacks,” said UNICEF spokesman Kieran Dwyer.
Meanwhile, pro-government forces claimed control of Ahras and Misqan in the countryside north of Aleppo on Tuesday.
“They were all so happy; they had heard that Saudi and Turkey may send troops, and they thought it would be in their advantage,” said Hashim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Harakat al-Nujaba, an Iraqi Shiite militia that has fighters on the ground in Syria. “We’ve proved that we still have the upper hand.”
He said it was “too early” to talk about a cease-fire.
“There’s a war,” he said, adding that his coalition of fighters now plans to break sieges on the Shiite towns of Fua and Kefraya.
Deane reported from London. Michael Birnbaum in Moscow contributed to this report.
