At least 21 civilians were killed on Tuesday as Assad regime intensified its bombardment of the last opposition stronghold in the country's northwest Idlib, a monitor said.
Nine children were among the 21 killed in regime fire on several towns in Idlib province and the countryside of neighboring Aleppo, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Strikes on a busy street in the village of Kafr Halab, on the western edge of Aleppo province, killed at least nine civilians.
An AFP photographer said the bodies of the victims were torn apart and several stores lining the side of the road were destroyed.
The street was crowded with people out and about before breaking the daytime fast observed by Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.
A hospital in the Idlib town of Kafranbel was also hit by artillery shells, said David Swanson, a spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian office.
"The facility is reportedly out of service due to severe structural damage," he told AFP.
The hospital's administrative director Majed al-Akraa confirmed the attack.
"The hospital is completely out of service," he said.
"It was a strong attack. The generators and even my car caught fire," he told AFP.
It follows two days of intensified regime bombardment on the region that killed a total of 31 civilians on Sunday and Monday, according to the Britain-based Observatory.
Rescue volunteers and civilians were seen pulling dust-covered victims from the rubble of destroyed buildings in the wake of those strikes.
U.S. State Department said it was alarmed by the rate of attacks by Assad regime and its Russian ally on Idlib.
"Indiscriminate attacks on civilians and public infrastructure such as schools, markets and hospitals is a reckless escalation of the conflict and is unacceptable," said State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus.
The U.N. deputy humanitarian chief warned that further military operations in northwest Syria's Idlib province will overwhelm aid efforts, stressing that an estimated 3 million people are caught up in crossfire in the last opposition stronghold.
Assistant Secretary-General Ursula Mueller told the Security Council that humanitarian operations in many areas where there are active hostilities have been suspended, explaining that many of the U.N.'s humanitarian partners have been displaced.
This means the suspension of health, nutrition and protection services previously supporting some 600,000 people, including 21 immunization centers that have ceased operations, Mueller said. It also includes at least 49 health facilities that have suspended or partially suspended activities for security reasons, she said.
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