Truce in doubt as strikes on 5 hospitals kill 50 in Syria

Russia says didn’t hit hospitals

Hopes for a ceasefire in Syria were fading on Tuesday, after dozens were killed in airstrikes on hospitals that France branded war crimes.

The United Nations said nearly 50 civilians, including children, died in bombings of at least five medical facilities and two schools in northern Syria’s Aleppo and Idlib provinces.

Turkey said on Tuesday it wanted a ground operation in neighbouring Syria with its international allies, as a UN envoy held talks in Damascus aimed at saving a troubled ceasefire plan.

Tensions escalated over Russia’s air war in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with Ankara branding it “vile, cruel and barbaric” and EU president Donald Tusk saying it “leaves little hope” of a solution.

“We want a ground operation with our international allies,” a senior Turkish official told reporters in Istanbul.

“There is not going to be a unilateral military operation from Turkey to Syria,” the official said, but added: “Without a ground operation it is impossible to stop the fighting in Syria.”

Saudi Arabia, another fierce critic of Mr Assad, has said it is ready to send special forces to Syria to take part in ground operations against the ISIS group.

The region around Syria’s second city of Aleppo has been the target of a major offensive by Syrian government troops, backed by Russian warplanes, which has sent tens of thousands fleeing to the Turkish border.

Russia denied it had bombed any hospital in Syria, calling such reports “unsubstantiated accusations”.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura met Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem in Damascus on Tuesday to try to keep alive the proposal announced by world powers in Munich early Friday for a “cessation of hostilities” in Syria within a week.

“We have been particularly talking about the issue of humanitarian unhindered access to all besieged areas not only by the government but also by (the) opposition” and ISIS, Mr De Mistura told reporters afterwards.

Turkey, meanwhile, shelled Kurdish positions in northern Syria for a fourth straight day Tuesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor.

It said the shells had struck the town of Tal Rifaat which was captured on Monday from mostly Islamist rebels by a Kurdish-Arab coalition known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The Turkish media also reported shelling on Kurdish positions around the rebel stronghold of Azaz.

Turkey fears the Kurds will be able to create a contiguous Kurdish territory just across the border in northern Syria.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu Tuesday accused Kurdish fighters of being “Russia’s legion working as mercenaries” with the aim of harming Turkey’s interests.

Moscow says its military intervention has targeted ISIS and other “terrorists”, but activists say Russia’s raids have caused disproportionately high civilian casualties.

Russia’s airstrikes have allowed government forces to press a major operation that has virtually encircled rebels in eastern Aleppo city, as well as pushing them from much of the region to the north.

“Those vile, cruel and barbaric planes have made close to 8,000 sorties since September 30 without any discrimination between civilians and soldiers, or children and the elderly,” Mr Davutoglu said.

Moscow meanwhile called Turkey’s shelling in Syria “provocative” and said it supported raising the issue at the UN Security Council.

A US state department spokesperson urged Turkey and Russia to avoid any further escalation.

“It is important that the Russians and Turks speak directly, and take measures to prevent escalation,” the spokesperson said.

Turkish foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu expressed “uneasiness” about France’s call over the weekend for an immediate halt to the shelling of Kurdish forces, a Turkish diplomatic source said.