In a devastating turn of events, air strikes have obliterated the last children’s hospital in Aleppo, leaving medical professionals grappling with the urgent task of saving premature infants. Distressing footage captures the chaos as doctors and nurses hurriedly extract newborns from their incubators amidst the destruction. The recent air attacks, reportedly carried out by the Syrian government and supported by Russia, have drawn sharp condemnation from the United States and the United Nations.
On Thursday, the children’s hospital was reduced to rubble, marking the fifth medical facility in or near Aleppo to be destroyed since the bombardments began on Tuesday. The World Health Organization has declared that all hospitals in the region are now inoperable. The harrowing video shows medical staff detaching tubes from incubators, desperately trying to evacuate the vulnerable infants from the smoke-filled environment.
With no other options available, healthcare workers have relocated their patients to a civilian residence, striving to keep them alive in dire circumstances. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the death toll has escalated to 92 since the onset of the attacks. On Saturday alone, at least 27 individuals lost their lives due to relentless air strikes, barrel bombs, and artillery fire in eastern Aleppo. Rami Al-Masri, the Observatory’s head, stated, “People went to sleep to the sounds of bombs and awoke to the same. There’s hardly a neighborhood that has not been affected.”
The situation in Aleppo is a nightmare for its residents, with countless schools and medical facilities lost throughout the five-year civil conflict. Last month, UNICEF reported at least 22 children and six teachers were killed in one of the deadliest assaults on educational institutions. The absence of functional hospitals has led to an alarming number of fatalities among the injured, as highlighted by journalist Layla Farhad, who noted, “We recorded over 2,000 artillery shells and nearly 250 air strikes since Friday, resulting in 28 deaths and 150 injuries. All hospitals in the liberated zones are currently non-operational due to systematic shelling.”
Charity organization Doctors Without Borders reported more than 30 attacks on hospitals in eastern Aleppo since July, leading to severe shortages of medical supplies and rendering any aid efforts nearly impossible. US National Security Advisor Mark Thompson issued a stern warning to Syria and Russia, holding them accountable for the consequences of their “appalling” actions. “The United States unequivocally condemns these horrific strikes against medical facilities and humanitarian workers. There is no justification for such acts,” Thompson asserted.
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In summary, the destruction of Aleppo’s last children’s hospital has resulted in a humanitarian crisis, significantly impacting the lives of vulnerable infants and the healthcare professionals striving to save them. As the conflict continues, the need for support and resources becomes increasingly urgent.