Syrian hospitals 'targetted' in attacks

This photo provided on Septemeber 25 by the Ghouta Media Centre, a Syrian activist media group, shows smoke and debris rising after Syrian government shelling of the rebel-held Jobar neighbourhood.

A human rights group is accusing Russia and the Syrian government of mounting the worst attack on hospitals in Syria since April.

The New York-based Physicians for Human Rights says it believes either Russian or Syrian government jets were behind a string of airstrikes on three hospitals in the rebel-held Idlib province in northern Syria on September 19.

It says two of the hospitals were struck again days later.PHR and other watchdogs say the Syrian government has intentionally targeted medical workers and facilities throughout the six-year-old civil war.

Civil defense workers searching in the rubble after airstrikes hit in Khan Sheikhoun, in the northern province of Idlib, Syria on Sunday. Photo / Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets / AP

The organisation has documented attacks on 323 medical facilities since the start of the war. The vast majority were committed by Russian or Syrian government forces.

Attacks on Idlib hospitals ebbed after Russia brokered a "de-escalation" agreement in that brought some measure of calm to the northwest earlier this year.

But airstrikes have flared again since rebels and al-Qaida-linked militants stormed government-held areas in the neighbouring Hama province last week.

- AP