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Senior Russian MP blames deadly Aleppo hospital shelling on opposition

Moscow has repeatedly demanded that the United States and its coalition partners drew a clear line between the opposition and militants in Syria

MOSCOW, December 6. /TASS/. The so-called Syrian opposition and their supporters should be blamed for the shelling of a hospital in Aleppo that left two Russian female doctors dead, a member of the State Duma International Affairs Committee, Sergei Zheleznyak, said.

"The barbaric shelling of the hospital in Aleppo, the death of two Russian female medics and the injury of another doctor is on the conscience of the so-called Syrian opposition and those who render support and money to these militants," said Zheleznyak, who is also a deputy secretary of the General Council of the ruling United Russia party.

Moscow has repeatedly demanded that the United States and its coalition partners drew a clear line between the opposition and militants in Syria, the lawmaker said.

"This has never been done, and this ‘opposition’ continues to shell hospitals and kill civilians along with our doctors," he said. "The US and its coalition partners must stop pretending that there are "good" and "bad" terrorists and start fighting them instead of treating them with indulgence."

Earlier on Monday the Russian Defense Ministry said one Russian medical worker had been killed and two others injured when "opposition" militants shelled a Russian mobile hospital. The facility came under an artillery attack between 12:21 and 12:30 Moscow time, when the examination of local patients was in progress.

One woman died when a mortar shell hit the hospital’s emergency ward, another died of injuries later. Doctors are still fighting to save the third victim.

Russian military medics from the Defense Ministry’s special purpose unit opened the hospital in Syria’s Aleppo to patients when Syrian government forces regained part of the city on Monday morning.