Aleppo hospital fully out of service after SDF attacks: Syrian health official

By Mohammad Sio

ISTANBUL (AA) – Aleppo's Internal Medicine Hospital has gone fully out of service in northern Syria after coming under shelling and direct sniper fire by the PKK/YPG terrorist groups operating under the name of SDF, a Syrian health official said Wednesday.

Speaking to Syria’s Alikhbariya TV, Aleppo Health Director Mohammad Jomaa said the hospital, located in the Bustan al-Basha area, sustained extensive damage to its infrastructure and medical departments, making it impossible to continue operations at the present time.

“The hospital was rendered completely out of service due to shelling and direct sniper fire (by the SDF),” Jomaa said.

Emergency measures were taken immediately, with all patients transferred to several hospitals across Aleppo to ensure uninterrupted medical care, he added.

Jomaa said that authorities checked on the condition of patients and confirmed the safety of both patients and on-duty medical staff.

The report comes amid heightened tensions and displacements in parts of Aleppo as the SDF renewed shelling of residential neighborhoods for the second day on Wednesday morning, a day after at least five people were killed and 16 others injured in a series of attacks by the group in Aleppo on Tuesday.

The Syrian army said that military positions of the SDF in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods of Aleppo are “legitimate targets” following the group’s escalation and “massacres” in the province.

On March 10, the Syrian presidency announced the signing of an agreement for the SDF’s integration into state institutions, reaffirming the country's territorial unity and rejecting any attempts at division.

Syrian authorities say that in the months since, the SDF has not shown any efforts to meet the terms of the agreement.