Two largest hospitals in rebel-held Aleppo bombed in 'deliberate' attack as 140 people are killed in just ONE WEEK – as Pope says those responsible 'will have to answer before God.

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES

An air strike and artillery fire hit the two largest hospitals in rebel-held parts of Syria's Aleppo on Wednesday, in what rights groups said was a deliberate strategy of targeting civilian infrastructure.

The two hospitals were struck just before dawn, with the M10 facility hit in an air strike and the M2 facility hit with artillery fire, said Adham Sahloul of the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), which supports both hospitals.

The attacks put both facilities temporarily out of commission and left only six hospitals operational in the eastern parts of the city, Sahloul said, calling the attacks 'deliberate'. It was unclear who had carried out the bombings.

'I am in the M2 hospital now. I was inside when the entrance to the emergency room was hit. Three of my colleagues were hurt,' said Aref al-Aref, a medical assistant trapped inside.

A wounded Syrian child is rushed into a hospital after she was hit by mortar shells that targeted Aleppo's government controlled Aziziyah and Suleimaniyah neighbourhoods on Thursday.

Injured Sabah Sheikh Qasim is a six-year-old Syrian twin. She is being taken to hospital after she was pulled out from the wreckage of a five-storey building hit by Assad regime forces' air strikes in Shaar town of Aleppo on Thursday.

140 people, nearly all civilians, have been killed since late Thursday

'Everyone is terrified and scared today. We are afraid that we will be today's victims,' he told AFP.

President Bashar al-Assad's forces and his ally Moscow have carried out a barrage of air strikes on opposition-controlled eastern Aleppo since Syria's regime announced a bid last week to retake all of the divided city.