US, UN slam Russia after scores killed in strikes on schools, hospitals

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says close to 50 civilians have been killed and many more wounded in missile attacks on at least five medical facilities and two schools in northern Syria.

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Monday that victims of the attacks included children.

He quotes the secretary-general as calling the attacks “blatant violations of international law” that “are further degrading an already devastated health care system and preventing access to education in Syria.”

Haq quotes Ban as saying the attacks “cast a shadow on commitments” made by nations seeking to end the Syrian conflict at a conference in Munich on February 11, which included a cessation of hostilities within a week and an end to attacks on civilians.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby condemns the strikes and says they cast doubt on Russia’s commitment to ceasing hostilities.

“That the Assad regime and its supporters would continue these attacks, without cause and without sufficient regard for international obligations to safeguard innocent lives, flies in the face of the unanimous calls by the [International Supporters of Syria Group], including in Munich, to avoid attacks on civilians and casts doubt on Russia’s willingness and/or ability to help bring to a stop the continued brutality of the Assad regime against its own people,” he says.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini says that the attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital “is completely unacceptable,” but says nothing about who was responsible.

Russia has reportedly blamed the US for the strikes.

— with agencies