Rights group Amnesty International has accused the Syrian government and Russian forces of deliberately targeting hospitals as a strategy of war in Syria's conflict. It says the attacks amount to war crimes.
Image: Reuters/A. Abdullah
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Amnesty International said in a report released Thursday it had "compelling evidence" of at least six attacks on medical facilities in Aleppo, northern Syria, over the past three months.
"Russian and Syrian government forces appear to have deliberately and systematically targeted hospitals and other medical facilities… to pave the way for ground forces to advance on northern Aleppo," Amnesty said in the report.
It said strikes on hospitals had intensified during recent negotiations on a ceasefire in Syria.
Amnesty's crisis response director, Tirana Hassan, said the strikes on health facilities were "in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law."
"But what is truly egregious is that wiping out hospitals appears to have become part of their military strategy," Hassan said.
In one instance on December 25, several missiles struck Baghdad Hospital in Hreitan, north of Aleppo City, killing a medical worker and injuring around 30 patients and staff, Amnesty said. The group also quoted a doctor from Anadan, close to Aleppo, as saying most residents had cleared off by mid-February after attacks on the city's field hospital and medical center.
Monitoring group Physicians for Human Rights has documented 346 attacks against medical facilities in the course of the Syrian conflict. It said the bulk of attacks were conducted by Syrian or Russian forces. Moscow denies targeting civilians in its Syria campaign, as does Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Shaky ceasefire
A partial ceasefire came into force in Syria last week, marking the first major cessation of hostilities in the five-year civil war that has claimed more than 270,000 lives. UN-sponsored peace talks between Syria's government and rebels are scheduled to restart in Geneva next week if the ceasefire holds. The agreement does not involve jihadist groups such as the "Islamic State" and al-Nusra Front.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande are expected to discuss the Syrian ceasefire with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a conference call on Friday.
A spokeswoman for Cameron said it was an "opportunity" for leaders to come together "and make very clear to president Putin that we need this ceasefire to hold, to be a lasting one and to open the way for a real political transition."
Syrian couple shows the world love can win everything
Despite the serial bombardment of their hometown, one couple from Homs has refused to give up hope. A photographer from the AFP news agency followed them and their wedding photographer to give the images wider exposure.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Eid
'Love Reconstructs Syria'
A month after Jafar Meray decided to use the war-stricken scenery for the couple's wedding photo shoot, the AFP also released a series of pictures taken by one of the agency's photographers who accompanied Meray and the couple. Meray called his series "Love Reconstructs Syria" and posted several pictures on his Facebook account, gaining hundreds of likes and shares.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Eid
Life and love among the ruins
The couple, 18-year-old Nada Merhi and 27-year-old soldier Hassan Youssef, chose a rather unusual background for their wedding pictures: their destroyed hometown of Homs. Meray used the ruins to show that "life is stronger than death."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Eid
A city torn apart
Syria's civil war has left more than 250,000 people dead, the majority of them civilians. Homs, which is Syria's third largest city, has suffered tremendously from attacks by forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad. It was also one of the first cities to oppose the government in 2012, albeit in vain. The government has since managed to expel most opposition fighters from the city.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Eid
White dress, gray rubble
In the middle of the once-thriving city, Nada's dress highlights the destruction that surrounds the young couple. Bullet holes, abandoned buildings, burned ruins and deserted roads are a constant reminder of the lives the people of Homs used to have.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Eid
Unceasing attacks
Homs still regularly experiences attacks. On January 26 at least 22 people were killed and more than 100 were injured in a suicide bombing in the neighborhood of al-Zahra. The neighborhood is mostly populated by Alawites, a minority sect of Islam that includes Syrian President Assad and his family. The "Islamic State" claimed responsibility for the attack.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Eid
Homs is not alone
Since September 30, Russian warplanes have conducted air strikes in support of Assad's forces. Homs is not the only Syrian city to suffer: On February 15, airstrikes hit a hospital near Murat al-Numan, about 280 kilometers (170 miles) north of the capital, Damascus, killing at least nine people.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Eid
International criticism
In an interview with the French news agency AFP, Assad said he would continue fighting despite mounting international pressure for a ceasefire. However, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung that "there will be no Bashar al-Assad in the future. ... He will no longer carry responsibility for Syria."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Eid
The main theme of MSC
The ongoing suffering experienced by people in besieged areas of Syria was one of the main points of the debate about human security at the February 12-14 Munich Security Conference. US Secretary of State John Kerry said, "The vast majority, in our opinion, of Russia's attacks have been against legitimate opposition groups."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Eid
'Love in the Times of War'
Some Facebook users have commented on Meray's photos with emotional statements. "I feel like the groom in the picture," one wrote. Another commented: "May God be with you and with all Syrians. Thanks for all these pictures and for sharing them with the world." A third offered the alternative title "Love in the Times of War."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Eid
'Proof that life goes on'
Meray's photographs have become so successful that people are still commenting on the series on his Facebook page, creating slideshows from it or turning it into YouTube videos. One user has even called Meray's series "proof that life goes on even in Syria's most devastated city of Homs."
