Air strikes hit hospital and kill 26 people in Idlib

Syrian regime or Russian air strikes in and around a town in opposition-held Idlib province on Tuesday killed 26 people and severely damaged a hospital, a monitoring group said.

The attacks came as Syrian regime forces and Russian jets intensified their bombardment of Idlib, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

A spokesman at the hospital in Kafr Takharim in Idlib said an air strike hit its courtyard killing 14 people, including patients.

Separate air strikes southwest of Kafr Takharim killed at least 12 people including civilians and rebel fighters, the Observatory said.

The United Nations condemned the air strikes and called for an end to such attacks on hospitals.

"It is completely unacceptable that facilities and people who are trying to save lives are being bombed," said Kevin Kennedy, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis.

"It must stop," he added.

The Observatory said there were no deaths from the hospital strike, but that the bombardment had put it out of action.

Idlib is an opposition stronghold, one of the few large areas still under rebel control in the west of the country.

Rebels and their families who have chosen to leave areas under regime siege around Damascus in evacuation deals have headed for Idlib.