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A destroyed MSF-supported hospital in Maarat al-Noaman in Idlib Province, Syria, on Monday, after it was hit by airstrikes: photo by Sam Taylor/Doctors Without Borders, via European Pressphoto Agency, 15 February 2016
Syria: At least seven killed and eight missing in another MSF-supported hospital attack in Idlib province: Médecins Sans Frontières, 15 February 2016
Gaziantep – At least seven people were killed, and at least eight are missing, presumed dead, after a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)-supported hospital in Idlib province in northern Syria was destroyed in an attack on Monday morning.
The hospital in Ma’arat Al Numan was hit by four missiles in two attacks within a few minutes of each other, according to staff from the hospital. Around 15 other houses and structures located in populated zones were struck in the area, including reports of another non-MSF-supported hospital during Monday morning.
“The destruction on the MSF supported facility appears to be a deliberate attack on a health structure”, denounces Massimiliano Rebaudengo, MSF’s Head of Mission.
Five patients were killed, as well as one caretaker. In addition, a hospital guard was killed and eight members of staff are missing, presumed dead. Other patients are still missing, but their numbers are currently unknown.
“The destruction of the hospital leaves the local population of around 40,000 people without access to medical services in an active zone of conflict,” Massimiliano said.
There were also reports on Monday morning of another two hospitals in Azaz city being attacked. These facilities were not supported by MSF.
The 30-bed hospital in Ma’arat Al Numan had 54 staff, two operating theatres, an outpatient department and an emergency room. The outpatient department treated around 1500 people a month, the ER carried out an average of 1,100 consultations a month, and around 140 operations a month, mainly orthopaedic and general surgery, were carried out in the operating theatres.
MSF has been supporting this hospital since September 2015 and covered all the needs of the facility including provision of medical supplies and running costs.
In December 2015 MSF supported the reconstruction of the hospital after it had been forced to move from the previous location after being attacked three times.
Fighting also intensified in Azaz district about 100 kms away from Ma’arat Al Numan on Monday morning, and MSF’s Al Salamah hospital has so far received 10 war wounded patients. A mother and child hospital (not supported by MSF) has also been bombed in Azaz city, the hospital is organizing the setup of its pediatric operating theatre into MSF's Al Salamah hospital.
Horrific details from Syrian doctor who witnessed @MSF hospital airstrikes, via @borzou: image via Francis Whittaker @frittaker,15 February 2016
A hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders near Maaret Numan, in Syria's northern Idlib province, lies in ruins after being hit by airstrikes that activists say were carried out by Russian warplanes: photo by AFP, 15 February 2016
Dozens of civilians killed in missile attacks on schools and medical centers in Syria, U.N. says: Associated Press, 15 February 2016
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday that nearly 50 civilians have been killed and many more wounded in missile attacks on at least five medical facilities and two schools in northern Syria.
Ban called the attacks “blatant violations of international laws” that “are further degrading an already devastated healthcare system and preventing access to education in Syria,” according to U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.
Haq quoted Ban as saying the attacks “cast a shadow on commitments” that nations seeking to end the Syrian conflict made at a conference in Munich, Germany, on Thursday; those included a cessation of hostilities within a week and an end to attacks on civilians.
Opposition activists had said airstrikes hit hospitals and a school in northern Syria, killing and wounding dozens of people. The activists said the strikes were carried out by Russian warplanes supporting a major advance by government troops.
An airstrike in Idlib province destroyed a makeshift clinic supported by the international aid group Doctors Without Borders, and in neighboring Aleppo province, a missile struck a children's hospital in the town of Azaz, killing at least five people and wounding dozens. A third airstrike hit a school in a nearby village, killing seven and wounding others.
Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French acronym MSF, said in a statement that the hospital in the town of Maaret Numan was hit four times in at least two attacks that were minutes apart. It said at least seven people were killed and at least eight others were "missing, presumed dead."
"This appears to be a deliberate attack on a health structure, and we condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms," said Massimiliano Rebaudengo, MSF's Syria mission chief. "The destruction of the hospital leaves the local population of around 40,000 people without access to medical services in an active zone of conflict."
The aid group said the hospital had 30 beds, 54 staff members, two operating theaters, an outpatient department and an emergency room. MSF has been supporting the hospital since September and covered all its needs, including medical supplies and running costs, it said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian warplanes targeted the makeshift hospital, destroying it and killing nine people. The opposition group, which tracks both sides of the conflict through sources on the ground, said dozens were wounded in the attack.
Syrian troops have been advancing in the north under the cover of Russian airstrikes in recent weeks. The offensive has been focused on Aleppo province, where troops are trying to cut rebel supply lines to Turkey and surround rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo, once Syria's largest.
On Monday, Syrian state TV reported that pro-government gunmen have entered western parts of the northern town of Tel Rifaat, where they were fighting "fierce battles" against insurgents. Tal Rifaat is a major stronghold of militants fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad.
Opposition activist Yahya al Sobeih, speaking by phone from Maaret Numan, said "the entire building has collapsed on the ground." He said five people were killed near the MSF clinic and "all members of the medical team inside are believed to be dead."
Paramedics and volunteers were working on removing the rubble, he added. The four-story building was once a cement company, but had served as a makeshift clinic during the war, Al Sobeih said.
The missile attack in Azaz, near the Turkish border, killed five people at the hospital, including three children and a pregnant woman, and wounded more than 30, the Syrian Observatory said. Activist Baraa al Halaby, based in Aleppo, said the hospital was struck by a missile and that 10 people were killed.
Abdulrahman al Hassan, chief liaison officer of Syrian Civil Defense, a group of first responders known as the "White Helmets," said the women's hospital in Azaz was hit by two surface-to-surface missiles. He added that some 10 people were killed and many were wounded.
"We think it is Russia because the photos of the missiles have Russian language [and] because we haven't seen this kind [of missile] before the Russian intervention," he said.
Russia has been a key ally of Assad throughout the five-year uprising and civil war; on Sept. 30, it began launching airstrikes to support his forces.
In Turkey, the private Dogan news agency reported that more than 30 of those wounded in Russian airstrikes in Azaz, primarily children, were transferred to a hospital in southern Turkey. It showed footage of ambulances arriving at the Kilis state hospital, medics unloading children on stretchers and a girl wrapped in a blanket.
"They hit the school, they hit the school," wailed a Syrian woman who was unloaded from an ambulance onto a wheelchair.
The Syrian Observatory and Al Halaby said an airstrike hit a school in the village of Kaljibrin, near Azaz. Al Halaby said the raid killed seven people and wounded others. The observatory said five were killed.
In Brussels on Monday, European Union officials called on Turkey to halt its military action in Syria after Turkish forces shelled positions held by a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia over the weekend.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said that "only a few days ago, all of us including Turkey, sitting around the table, decided steps to de-escalate and have a cessation of hostilities."
She said more fighting "is obviously not what we expect."
Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said, "We have the plan for a cessation of hostilities and I think everybody has to abide by that."
Syria's main Kurdish faction, the People's Protection Units, or YPG, have been highly effective in combating Islamic State militants, but Turkey views it as a threat because of its ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Ankara.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday said the cross-border shelling has succeeded in halting a Kurdish advance on Azaz and vowed the "harshest reaction" if the YPG march on the town again.
Kurdish-led forces had recently gained ground along the border with Turkey at the expense of Syrian rebels, who have been struggling to hold ground amid the massive Russian-backed government offensive.
Ban called the attacks “blatant violations of international laws” that “are further degrading an already devastated healthcare system and preventing access to education in Syria,” according to U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.
Haq quoted Ban as saying the attacks “cast a shadow on commitments” that nations seeking to end the Syrian conflict made at a conference in Munich, Germany, on Thursday; those included a cessation of hostilities within a week and an end to attacks on civilians.
Opposition activists had said airstrikes hit hospitals and a school in northern Syria, killing and wounding dozens of people. The activists said the strikes were carried out by Russian warplanes supporting a major advance by government troops.
An airstrike in Idlib province destroyed a makeshift clinic supported by the international aid group Doctors Without Borders, and in neighboring Aleppo province, a missile struck a children's hospital in the town of Azaz, killing at least five people and wounding dozens. A third airstrike hit a school in a nearby village, killing seven and wounding others.
Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French acronym MSF, said in a statement that the hospital in the town of Maaret Numan was hit four times in at least two attacks that were minutes apart. It said at least seven people were killed and at least eight others were "missing, presumed dead."
"This appears to be a deliberate attack on a health structure, and we condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms," said Massimiliano Rebaudengo, MSF's Syria mission chief. "The destruction of the hospital leaves the local population of around 40,000 people without access to medical services in an active zone of conflict."
The aid group said the hospital had 30 beds, 54 staff members, two operating theaters, an outpatient department and an emergency room. MSF has been supporting the hospital since September and covered all its needs, including medical supplies and running costs, it said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian warplanes targeted the makeshift hospital, destroying it and killing nine people. The opposition group, which tracks both sides of the conflict through sources on the ground, said dozens were wounded in the attack.
Syrian troops have been advancing in the north under the cover of Russian airstrikes in recent weeks. The offensive has been focused on Aleppo province, where troops are trying to cut rebel supply lines to Turkey and surround rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo, once Syria's largest.
On Monday, Syrian state TV reported that pro-government gunmen have entered western parts of the northern town of Tel Rifaat, where they were fighting "fierce battles" against insurgents. Tal Rifaat is a major stronghold of militants fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad.
Opposition activist Yahya al Sobeih, speaking by phone from Maaret Numan, said "the entire building has collapsed on the ground." He said five people were killed near the MSF clinic and "all members of the medical team inside are believed to be dead."
Paramedics and volunteers were working on removing the rubble, he added. The four-story building was once a cement company, but had served as a makeshift clinic during the war, Al Sobeih said.
The missile attack in Azaz, near the Turkish border, killed five people at the hospital, including three children and a pregnant woman, and wounded more than 30, the Syrian Observatory said. Activist Baraa al Halaby, based in Aleppo, said the hospital was struck by a missile and that 10 people were killed.
Abdulrahman al Hassan, chief liaison officer of Syrian Civil Defense, a group of first responders known as the "White Helmets," said the women's hospital in Azaz was hit by two surface-to-surface missiles. He added that some 10 people were killed and many were wounded.
"We think it is Russia because the photos of the missiles have Russian language [and] because we haven't seen this kind [of missile] before the Russian intervention," he said.
Russia has been a key ally of Assad throughout the five-year uprising and civil war; on Sept. 30, it began launching airstrikes to support his forces.
In Turkey, the private Dogan news agency reported that more than 30 of those wounded in Russian airstrikes in Azaz, primarily children, were transferred to a hospital in southern Turkey. It showed footage of ambulances arriving at the Kilis state hospital, medics unloading children on stretchers and a girl wrapped in a blanket.
"They hit the school, they hit the school," wailed a Syrian woman who was unloaded from an ambulance onto a wheelchair.
The Syrian Observatory and Al Halaby said an airstrike hit a school in the village of Kaljibrin, near Azaz. Al Halaby said the raid killed seven people and wounded others. The observatory said five were killed.
In Brussels on Monday, European Union officials called on Turkey to halt its military action in Syria after Turkish forces shelled positions held by a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia over the weekend.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said that "only a few days ago, all of us including Turkey, sitting around the table, decided steps to de-escalate and have a cessation of hostilities."
She said more fighting "is obviously not what we expect."
Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said, "We have the plan for a cessation of hostilities and I think everybody has to abide by that."
Syria's main Kurdish faction, the People's Protection Units, or YPG, have been highly effective in combating Islamic State militants, but Turkey views it as a threat because of its ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Ankara.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday said the cross-border shelling has succeeded in halting a Kurdish advance on Azaz and vowed the "harshest reaction" if the YPG march on the town again.
Kurdish-led forces had recently gained ground along the border with Turkey at the expense of Syrian rebels, who have been struggling to hold ground amid the massive Russian-backed government offensive.
In contravention of UN cease fire and #IHL, an MSF-supported hospital was attacked and destroyed this morning in #Syria. The MSF-supported structure in #Idlib was hit by 4 rockets, at least 8 staff are missing. The hospital was hit four times in two series of at least two attacks within a few minutes of each other #MSF: image via MSF International @MSF. 15 February 2016
“The destruction of the hospital leaves around 40,000 people without medical services in an active zone of conflict": image via MSF Syria @MSF_Syria, 15 February 2016
Several hospitals operated by @sams_usa were bombed by #Russia today in Idlib and Aleppo killing scores of patients: image via Zaher Sahloul @sahloul, 15 February 2016
A #nurse in training is killed today by the #Russian airstrike on @sams_usa hospital in #Marr'a. She will be missed!: image via Zaher Sahloul @sahloul, 15 February 2016
Today, Azaz hospital OBGYN/ neonatal for women and newborns was attacked and completely demolished by Russian airstrikes: image via SAMS@sams_usa, 15 February 2016
Today, Azaz hospital OBGYN/ neonatal for women and newborns was attacked and completely demolished by Russian airstrikes: image via SAMS@sams_usa, 15 February 2016
Today, Azaz hospital OBGYN/ neonatal for women and newborns was attacked and completely demolished by Russian airstrikes: image via SAMS@sams_usa, 15 February 2016
Russian missile landed in the fields outside Azaz north #Aleppo: image via Stork @NorthernStork, 15 February 2016
#News Aftermath of a ballistic missile attack on the #Azaz women's and children's hospital: image via Julian Röpcke @JulianRoepcke, 15 February 2016
Bodies outside a makeshift mother and child hospital after reported airstrikes on Monday in the Syrian city of Azaz, near the border with Turkey: photo by Mujahed Abul Joud/Agence France-Presse, 15 February 2016
"Syrians are buried beneath bombs." by @MSF President @JoanneLiu_MSF: image via Arjan Hehenkamp @Arjan Hehenkamp, 15 February 2016
[Too many enemies]: image via baraa al halabi @baraaalhalabi, 13 February 2016
a winter of the soul
Melted snow catches the light atop hundreds of bottles of water ready for distribution outside of a Flint Fire Station in downtown Flint, Michigan: photo by Jake May/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP, 28 January 2016
A dropped winter glove marks an entrance to the Boston Common during a snowstorm: photo by Suzanne Kreiter/Boston Globe, 8 February 2016
Snowfall brought winter conditions back to parts of the UK as overnight snow closed the Snake Pass in the Peak District of England: photo by John Giles/ PA via AP, 3 February 2016
Morning mist sits in the valley of the Spey River near Kincraig, Scotland: photo by Russell Cheyne/Reuters, 12 February 2016
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Alpine choughs start from the summit of the 2,224 meters high Nebelhorn mountain near Oberstdorf, southern Germany, flying towards a snow-covered Alpine panorama: photo by Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/AFP, 9 February 2016
A gull flies over the Mediterranean Sea as the sun rises over snow-covered Mount Sannine, in Beirut, Lebanon: photo by Hassan Ammar/Associated Press, 8 February 2016
Kashmiri people try to warm themselves amid snowfall in Tangmarg, north of Srinagar: photo by Farooq Khan/EPA, 11 February 2016
A road sign “163 km” is seen on a birch on a winter road at a market near the Siberian village of Yangutum: photo by Alexander Aksakov, 2 February 2016
A woman walks past snow-covered trees in a forest near the village of Mesherskoye some 70 km outside Moscow: photo by Yuri Kabodnokov/AFP, 1 February 2016
Water from the overflowing Diemeltal lock rushes over a gate in the wall in Diemelsee, Germany. The cause is a high inflow of water from snow that is melting due to recent mild temperatures and rainfall.: photo by Uwe Zucchi/EPA, 11 February 2016
A wave breaks in the harbour in Auderville, northwestern France #AFP photo by @CTriballeau: image by Sophie Nicholson @sohnic, 8 February 2016
Sleep No More Till Spring Comes, or The Long Winter's Night of The Living Dead Zombiegirls
@AlexanderWangNY presented last night his #FW16 collection in a church: image via NOWFASHION @NOWFASHION, 14 February 2016
A model walks the walk of the living dead in the Alexander Wang fall-winter 2016 collection for New York Fashion Week, shown at St Bartholomews Church on Park Avenue: photo by Nowfashion/The New York Times, 14 February 2016
The Alexander Wang fall-winter 2016 collection for New York Fashion Week, shown at St Bartholomews Church on Park Avenue, zeroed in on today’s youth culture and its various appropriations of high fashion: photo by Dina Litovsky via The New York Times, 14 February 2016
The Alexander Wang fall-winter 2016 collection for New York Fashion Week, shown at St Bartholomews Church on Park Avenue, zeroed in on today’s youth culture and its various appropriations of high fashion: photo by Dina Litovsky via The New York Times, 14 February 2016
Mohair, a throwback to ’90s grunge, featured prominently in the collection, especially in the form of beanies: photo by Dina Litovsky via The New York Times, 14 February 2016
Several pieces referenced prison uniforms, including a coat with “County” emblazoned on the back. Shown here, a literal poser's take on jail stripes.: photo by Dina Litovsky via The New York Times, 14 February 2016
Given the church’s layout, engineering space was a tricky feat. Here, photographers clustered uncomfortably at one end of the runway.: photo by Dina Litovsky via The New York Times, 14 February 2016
Models appear only moderately brutalized while waiting outside their rehearsal: photo by Dina Litovsky via The New York Times, 14 February 2016
Captions such as “strict,” “girls” and “tender” were displayed across chests on rectangular black patches simplistically resembling censorship bands: photo by Dina Litovsky via The New York Times, 14 February 2016
Not one for subtlety, especially when it comes to celebrating subversiveness, Wang delivered prints of marijuana leaves on coats and miniskirts: photo by Dina Litovsky via The New York Times, 14 February 2016
Not one for subtlety, especially when it comes to celebrating subversiveness, Wang delivered prints of marijuana leaves on coats and miniskirts: photo by Dina Litovsky via The New York Times, 14 February 2016
The crowd included heavyweights from both the fashion and entertainment industries. Here, Anna Wintour, an early champion of Wang’s work (Wang won the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund Award in 2008).: photo by Dina Litovsky via The New York Times, 14 February 2016
The crowd included heavyweights from both the fashion and entertainment industries. Here, Anna Wintour, an early champion of Wang’s work (Wang won the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund Award in 2008).: photo by Dina Litovsky via The New York Times, 14 February 2016
the moments in between: photo by Naud, 4 July 2013
Zombie girl. Montreal Zombie walk 2014: photo by Celine Marsolais, 25 October 2014
Final touchups with #Fekkai + @NARSissist backstage at @NoonbyNoor #Fall16. #NYFW: image via Fekkai @fekkai, 14 February 2016
#zombie #zombies #zombiegirl #facepaint #bodypaint #mua #makeup: image via Rene H. Nielsen, 1 February 2016
Diane Kendal created the "sleep no more" look for @NARSissist and #AlexanderWang: image via CR FASHION BOOK @CR FASHION BOOK, 14 February 2016
#ContestAlert: win some #ZombieGirl swag! Enter by Feb.29: image via AG @the poeticzombie, 8 February 2016
That special sallow, waxen, my nose-has-known-the-armpits-of-the-dead Six Feet Under afterglow -- How to look like a member of #AlexanderWangNY's downtown gang #NYFW: image via CR FASHION BOOK @CR FASHION BOOK, 14 February 2016
#ZombieGirl: image via Muh Fucka @GhostRunner24, 9 February 2016
Yes, the #zombie apocalypse will void @amazon's terms of service: image via CNNMoney @CNNMoney, 11 February 2016
Check out the images of #AlexanderWang first - polaroid - campaign after #BALENCIAGA: image via NsMagazine @nssmag, 10 February 2016 Lombardy, Italy