13 dead as Russia strike hits Syria field hospital

DAMASCUS (Web Desk/APP) - At least 13 people including medical staff were killed when Russian warplanes struck a field hospital in northwestern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday.

"Thirteen people were killed in Russian air strikes on Tuesday on a field clinic in the town of Sarmin, including a physiotherapist, a guard, and civil defence member," the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Sarmin lies in the northwestern province of Idlib, which has been regularly targeted by Russia's military since the beginning of its air war in Syria on September 30.

The clinic was run by the Syrian-American Medical Society, whose staff confirmed that strikes had "severely damaged" the facility.

"Yesterday at around 1:00 pm (1000 GMT) a SAMS facility near Sarmin, Idlib was hit," a SAMS staff member told AFP.

"Our initial reports from the ground show that we have lost two hospital staff, a physiotherapist and a nurse," the staffer said in an emailed statement.