A series of airstrikes by Syrian regime and Russian forces have closed down all remaining hospitals in the eastern area of the rebel-held city Aleppo, Syria.
{mosads}More than 150 people have been killed by the strikes and about 300,000 people were left without medical attention, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“This destruction to the vital infrastructure has left the besieged and resilient people …without any medical facilities to provide treatment and a chance to save their lives,” the Aleppo Health Directorate said, according to the Journal.
“And [it] has left them to die, which is what the regime is trying to achieve.”
Three hospitals in the eastern part of the city were bombed Friday, while four more were put out of service by airstrikes that night.
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson called the situation in Aleppo “horrific.”
“You add to that five hospitals bombed, and imagine the conditions under which human beings live — it is just unbearable. I can only underline it is a hugely critical situation,” Eliasson said.
Doctors told the Journal a chlorine-filled bomb struck a children’s hospital Friday. A mother and two of her children were killed.
President Bashar al-Assad’s regime sent a warning text message last weekend to opposition group fighters and citizens living in the eastern part of the city, alerting them that they had 24 hours to leave before regime forces would begin “planned strategic attacks.” The air campaign continued Tuesday.
Regime forces, along with its Russian allies, have been targeting the eastern part of the city since July, as Assad tries to retake the rebel-held areas of the city.