Medical Groups Accuse Russia of Carrying Out Airstrikes Against Syrian Hospitals

International medical groups are blaming Russia for airstrikes that damaged at least three civilian medical facilities in Syria over the past week.

Two sites were hit on October 2 in Hama and Idlib provinces, while a third was struck the following day in northern Latakia, according to Physicians for Human Rights. The group has been mapping attacks on medical infrastructure in Syria throughout the 4-year-long conflict in the country.

The Syrian American Medical Society, a humanitarian organization that dispatches volunteer doctors to the region, confirmed that a field hospital it supports in the Hama town of Latamneh was damaged in the strike. Two nurses and a hospital guard were wounded.

Kathleen Fallon, a spokeswoman for the group, says the Russian attacks, in addition to ongoing bombardments by Syrian warplanes, have made it impossible for healthcare workers to treat Syrian civilians in dire need of care.

"It's a particularly horrifying strategy of bombing civilian areas and then bombing the people who would treat them," she said.

The Syrian American Medical Society also said another three medical centers were hit between October 6 and 7 in Aleppo, Hama, and Idlib provinces respectively.

The US Department of Defense was unable to confirm any of the strikes, according to press officer Michelle Baldanza. "If the reports are true," she said, "this only shows the harm done to the Syrian people because of Russia's support to Assad."

More than 300 medical facilities have been attacked and 670 doctors killed since the war began in 2011, according to figures from Physicians for Human Rights. The Latamneh facility hit last week had previously been attacked by Syrian military forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Medical facilities throughout the country are now trying to avoid danger by moving operations to first floors or basements, which are safer during barrel bomb attacks and other strikes launched by the Syrian government, said Widney Brown, PHR's director of programs.

The attacks by the Syrian regime were bad enough, but Russian weapons are even more powerful, she said.

"[It's] just making a very bad situation worse," Brown said. "The ones that have been retrofitted to survive attacks from Syrian military are going to be extremely vulnerable."