

Russia has rejected accusations that it committed war crimes by targeting health facilities in Syria, even as the death toll from airstrikes on hospitals rose and growing condemnation over the Kremlin’s aerial campaign.

“We categorically do not accept such statements, the more so as every time those making these statements are unable to prove their unfounded accusations in any way,” a spokesman for Vladimir Putin said.

France, Turkey and western diplomats have all said the strikes on two locations by forces supporting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad amount to war crimes.

Turkey’s foreign ministry accused Russia of carrying out an “obvious war crime” and warned that bigger and more serious consequences would be inevitable if Russia did not immediately end such attacks.

Turkey’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, said: “If Russia continues behaving like a terrorist organisation and forcing civilians to flee, we will deliver an extremely decisive response.”

The international charity Médecins Sans Frontières said 11 people died – five staff members, a caretaker and five patients including a child – after airstrikes on a facility it supports in the province of Idlib. It said the death toll was likely to still rise.

While MSF did not blame any side for the bombing of the hospital, the Russian and Syrian air forces have carried out almost all of the air raids in the province, which is entirely outside of government control.

The continued violence risks upending a truce deal agreed by major powers in Munich last week that calls for a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access to besieged areas in Syria.

Turkey, which backs rebels fighting to overthrow the Assad regime, said on Tuesday that it was seeking support from its allies for a ground operation in Syria. It has watched with growing alarm as Russian airstrikes decimate the opposition, allowing Kurdish paramilitaries, with whom it is fighting a bitter insurgency, to gain ground in territory straddling its borders.

“We want a ground operation. If there is a consensus, Turkey will take part. Without a ground operation, it is impossible to stop this war,” a Turkish official told reporters at a briefing in Istanbul, according to Reuters. “Turkey is not going to have a unilateral ground operation ... We are discussing this with allies.”

Growing speculation that opponents of Assad are mulling an intervention on the ground has drawn condemnation from Moscow, which says such a move risks broadening the five-year civil and proxy war.

In a glimmer of hope amid the worsening conflict that has displaced tens of thousands in the past few weeks, the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, hinted that he had been able to secure access for humanitarian convoys to besieged areas in the country.

In a statement issued after a meeting with Syrian foreign minister, Walid Mouallem, Mistura said they had discussed the issue of humanitarian access to areas besieged by all sides in the war. Humanitarian agencies estimate that more than a million people are living under siege, most of whom are hemmed in by the Assad regime.

Mistura’s comments implied that he had won governmental approval for UN convoys to deliver supplies to some areas, although he gave no specific details. “The access to these areas is done by convoys, coordinated by the UN country team ... It is clear it is the duty of the government of Syria to want to reach every Syrian person wherever they are and allow the UN to bring humanitarian aid,” Mistura said. “Tomorrow, we test this.”







