Syria crisis: Strikes on hospitals and schools kill 'up to 50'

By BBC News

Up to 50 people have been killed in missile attacks on schools and hospitals in northern Syria, according to the United Nations.

"Such attacks are a blatant violation of international laws," the UN said.

Among the sites hit was a Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital, where seven people were reportedly killed. France said such acts constituted war crimes.

Activists have accused Russia of carrying out the strikes but there has been no independent confirmation.

Russia has been backing the Syrian government in its offensive against rebels but says it only targets what it calls "terrorists".

'Deliberate' attack on MSF hospital

Two medical facilities in Maarat al-Numan, which is in Idlib province, are reported to have been hit.

MSF said one of its facilities had been struck by four missiles in the space of minutes, leading them to believe it "wasn't an accidental attack, that it was deliberate".

It said seven people died with another eight still missing.

Mego Terzian, president of MSF France, told Reuters "either the [Syrian] government or Russia" was "clearly" responsible.

But the Syrian ambassador to Moscow Riad Haddad, said the US was to blame, a claim the Pentagon dismissed as "patently false".

"We have no reason to strike in Idlib, as Isil [Islamic State] is not active there," spokesman Capt Jeff Davis said.What does the law say about bombing hospitals?

International humanitarian law bans any attack on patients and medical personnel or indeed any attack on medical facilities, which are zones that must be respected under the rules of war

Even if combatants take refuge in them, they should not be attacked

Under rules established by the International Criminal Court, any such incident would probably result in too high a number of civilian casualties - what is called the rule of proportionality

A second hospital in Maarat al-Numan was also hit, killing three people, said opposition group the Local Co-ordination Committees.

The strikes follow a pattern of systematic attacks on healthcare facilities in Syria, says the BBC's Mark Lowen in neighbouring Turkey.