Kerry Calls on Russia to Influence Damascus After Alleged Hospital Attack

© AP Photo / Susan WalshSecretary of State John Kerry testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016.
Secretary of State John Kerry testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016. - Sputnik International
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Russia must use its influence on the Syrian President Bashar Assad's government to uphold the cessation of hostilities following the deadly overnight airstrikes, which hit the al-Quds hospital in Aleppo, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a press release on Thursday.

A view shows the damage at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-backed al-Quds hospital after it was hit by airstrikes, in a rebel-held area of Syria's Aleppo, April 28, 2016. - Sputnik International
Russian Military Denies Reports of Alleged Airstrike on Aleppo Hospital
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Earlier on Thursday, the international humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that at least 14 people were killed in an airstrike which struck the al-Quds hospital in Aleppo. According to rights groups, the number of those killed in the attack has already reached 27.

However, the Syrian Armed Forces said in a statement that media reports of airstrikes carried out by the Syrian Air Forces against a hospital in Aleppo are detached from reality.

"Russia has an urgent responsibility to press the regime to fulfill its commitments… including in particular to stop attacking civilians, medical facilities and first responders, and to abide fully by the cessation of hostilities," Kerry stated.

Militants shell a district in Aleppo - Sputnik International
Syrian Army Denies Reports of Gov't Behind Airstrike on Aleppo Hospital
Kerry acknowledged that the circumstances surrounding the airstrike are still being investigated, but concluded that "it appears to have been a deliberate strike on a known medical facility."

The US State Department placed responsibility for the attack on Syrian forces under President Assad.

The attack on the hospital occurred under an increasingly fragile cessation of hostilities agreement, brokered by the United States and Russia in February.

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