At a maternity hospital in northwest Syria, an alarm flashes at the main entrance to alert staff. It's not patients en route to the hospital. It's warplanes.
Doctors at the hospital face a daily struggle to care for expectant mothers amid a Syrian government assault that has driven deep into Idlib province in an attempt to snuff out the last stronghold of rebels battling President Bashar Assad. Medical staff said there had been a marked rise in miscarriages and premature births in the last two months. Some expectant mothers arrive in shock after leaving home in terror at the bombardment, and every day four or five babies are found to have died in the womb, one doctor said.
"For me, the latest stage has been the toughest of all," said the doctor, 37-year old Ikram who is eight months pregnant.