Airstrikes on several locations in northwest Syria near the border with Turkey have killed at least one person and set afire several trucks used to distribute aid, opposition activists and a paramedic group said Monday.
The late Sunday attacks angered Turkey, which had asked Russia to secure an immediate end to the strikes, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said, adding that Turkish troops had been placed on alert.
Turkey and Russia support rival parties in Syria’s 10-year conflict. The countries reached a deal last March that stopped a Russian-backed government offensive on the northwestern Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in war-torn Syria.
Blood is seen on a hospital floor in Atareb, a town in rural western Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, March 22, 2021. Artillery shells fired from government areas killed at least five civilians and wounded medical staff when they landad in front of the hospital. (AP PhotoGhaith Alsayed)
Opposition activists claimed that Russian warplanes carried out the attacks near the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey late Sunday, hours after government artillery shelling hit a major hospital in a rebel-controlled town in northwestern Syria. Six patients, including a child, were killed. Medical staff were wounded, forcing the facility to shut its doors.
The Bab al-Hawa border crossing is a main point from which aid is brought to rebel-held parts of northwest Syria.
Idlib-based journalist Salwa Abdul-Rahman said one of the strikes hit an area near the town of Sarmada, setting afire trucks used by aid workers to distribute assistance.
Bodies of a people killed in a shelling lay in hospital in Atareb, a town in rural western Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, March 22, 2021. Artillery shells fired from government areas killed at least five civilians and wounded medical staff when they landad in front of the hospital. (AP PhotoGhaith Alsayed)
“The targeted locations were civilian with no military presence,” she said.
One person was killed in the strikes, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, and the opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets.
The civil defense said that in addition to the trucks, the strikes targeted a cement factory. The truck fires were put under control hours later.
Damage from shelling is seen in hospital in Atareb, a town in rural western Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, March 22, 2021. Artillery shells fired from government areas killed at least five civilians and wounded medical staff when they landad in front of the hospital. (AP PhotoGhaith Alsayed)
An AP video from the area showed about a dozen trucks on fire as civil defense members sprayed them with water.
Turkey’s Defense Ministry blamed Syrian government forces for the attack, saying it left several people wounded.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The governments of eight European Union member states said Friday the situation in Syria should be re-evaluated to allow for the voluntary return of Syrian refugees back to their homeland.
In a joint statement, officials from Austria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Malta and Poland said they agree on a re-assessment that would lead to “more effective ways of handling” Syrian refugees trying to reach European Union countries.
The eight countries, which held talks during a summit meeting in the Cypriot capital, said the situation in Syria has “considerably evolved,” even though complete political stability hasn't been achieved.
Cyprus has in recent months seen an upsurge of Syrian refugees reaching the island nation primarily from Lebanon aboard rickety boats.
Earlier this month, the EU announced a 1 billion euro ($1.06 billion) aid package for Lebanon aimed at boosting border controls to halt the flow of asylum seekers and migrants to Cyprus and Italy.
The eight countries said the EU should further boost support for Lebanon to "mitigate the risk of even greater flows from Lebanon to the EU.”
“Decisions as to who has the right to cross a member state’s borders, should be taken by the government of the relevant member state and not by criminal networks engaged in migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings,” the joint statement said.
The call comes a day afte r 15 EU member countries publicly called for the bloc to boost partnerships with countries along migratory routes in hopes of heading off attempts to reach EU countries.
The countries said that while they “fully embrace” the need to support Syrian refugees in line with international law, they hoped their talks could open a wider debate within the 27-member bloc on the process of granting the migrants international protection.
“What European citizens want from us ... are solutions, practical, realistic solutions that can be implemented,” said Greek Migration Minister Dimitris Kairidis.
Cypriot Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said the United Nations' refugee agency has already “established lines of communication” with Syrian authorities regarding possible voluntary returns in line with international law.
The Cypriot minister said returns would initially be on a voluntary basis, but that could develop into forced returns at a later stage. Much more needs to be done for that to happen because the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad isn't recognized by the EU, he said.
In Lebanon, where anti-refugee sentiment has been surging recently, more than 300 Syrian refugees returned to Syria in a convoy earlier this week.
Lebanese officials have long urged the international community to either resettle the refugees in other countries or help them return to Syria.
Cyprus' interior minister Konstantinos Ioannou, right, talks to the media during a press conference as his counterparts Austria's Gerhard Karner, left, and Czech's Vít Rakusan stand by during the Ministerial Summit Migration and Syria Dynamics in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, May 17, 2024. The governments of eight European Union member states say the situation inside Syria should be re-evaluated to allow for voluntary returns of Syrian refugees back to their homeland. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
Cyprus' interior minister Konstantinos Ioannou, second right, talks to the media during a press conference as his counterparts Austria's Gerhard Karner, left, Czech's Vít Rakusan, second left, and Greece's Minister Of Immigration and Asylum Dimitris Kairides, right, stand by, during the Ministerial Summit Migration and Syria Dynamics in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, May 17, 2024. The governments of eight European Union member states say the situation inside Syria should be re-evaluated to allow for voluntary returns of Syrian refugees back to their homeland. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
Cyprus' interior minister Konstantinos Ioannou, second left, talks with his counterparts Austria's Gerhard Karner, left, Czech's Vít Rakusan, right, and Greece's Minister Of Immigration and Asylum Dimitris Kairides, second right, stand by, during the Ministerial Summit Migration and Syria Dynamics in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, May 17, 2024. The governments of eight European Union member states say the situation inside Syria should be re-evaluated to allow for voluntary returns of Syrian refugees back to their homeland. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
Cyprus' interior minister Konstantinos Ioannou, left, talks with his counterparts Austria's Gerhard Karner, right, Czech's Vít Rakusan, second right, and Greece's Minister Of Immigration and Asylum Dimitris Kairides, second left, during the Ministerial Summit Migration and Syria Dynamics in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, May 17, 2024. The governments of eight European Union member states say the situation inside Syria should be re-evaluated to allow for voluntary returns of Syrian refugees back to their homeland. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
Cyprus' interior minister Konstantinos Ioannou, second left, talks with his counterparts Austria's Gerhard Karner, left, Czech's Vít Rakusan, right, and Greece's Minister Of Immigration and Asylum Dimitris Kairides, second right, during the Ministerial Summit Migration and Syria Dynamics in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, May 17, 2024. The governments of eight European Union member states say the situation inside Syria should be re-evaluated to allow for voluntary returns of Syrian refugees back to their homeland. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
