Underground hospitals in northern Syria protect the lives of thousands every month, as regime attacks continue to target civilians and residential places.

In Aleppo, many hospitals have moved underground into basements or caves after the regime airstrikes destroyed hospitals in residential places.

The town of al-Atarib in Aleppo has opted for such precautions, with an underground hospital working to save the lives of victims of regime attacks. In the hospital, 77 medical personnel provide health care for 350 people daily. Nearly 10,000 patients are treated every month in the hospital, consisting of five units including general surgery, internal medicine, otorhinolaryngology, an intensive care unit and surgical suite.

Mohammed Ahmad, an official working at the hospital, said: "All the hospitals in Aleppo were destroyed in 2017. Therefore, we built a hospital underground because it was safer. Since then, people have been coming here because it is safer and more peaceful. We can protect ourselves from both airstrikes and missiles. This hospital's aim is to create a safe environment for medical staff and patients and make them feel peaceful."

Omar Hallak, a worker involved in the building process of the hospital, said: "Hospitals were bombed and destroyed during the war in Aleppo. We lived through very tough times. Therefore, we first made caves and rooms. There were a lot of patients coming to this hospital, and we made 14 rooms. Airstrikes hit here last year, but we did not have any casualties, fortunately because underground is safe."

International organizations, including the U.N., had called on the Bashar Assad regime and its supporters to cease airstrikes on civilian areas and health facilitates in northwestern Syria amid a mounting civilian toll.

Turkey and Russia inked a deal in Sochi for a buffer zone last year to prevent a massive regime offensive on the Idlib region near the Turkish border. Following eight months of calm provided by the Sochi deal, the Assad regime intensified its attacks starting April 26 under the pretext of fighting Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorists holed up in Idlib.

Despite the de-escalation agreement, the Bashar Assad regime's intermittent attacks and bombardment have killed, wounded and displaced thousands of people in Idlib. Residential areas have been destroyed by indiscriminate attacks, while numerous educational facilities, health facilities and residential areas have collapsed or have become unusable after being targeted by bombs.

A similar tragedy happened in Aleppo, when the regime attacks targeted the region.