23 Mar 2021; MEMO: The US sharply condemned Monday a wave of Russian and Syrian regime airstrikes over the weekend that targeted a hospital and killed several civilians, Anadolu Agency reports.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the coordinates of al-Atareb Surgical Hospital had previously been shared with a UN entity intended to prevent attacks on civilian infrastructure.
The hospital was struck by artillery shelling Sunday morning, injuring five staffers and killing six patients, including a child, according to the Syrian American Medical Society. The hospital, which had been providing badly-needed services sustained extensive damage, and has been shuttered.
An additional Russia airstrike on the al-Bab border crossing with Turkey killed one civilian and injured two others.
"Bab al-Hawa remains the only UN-authorized humanitarian border crossing in Syria and remains the most efficient and effective way to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to approximately 2.4 million Syrians every month," Price said.
"Civilians, including civilian medical personnel and facilities, must never be the target of military action. This violence must stop – we reiterate our call for a nationwide ceasefire," he added.
