As it turned out, the allegations are based on unconfirmed reports from unnamed non-governmental groups operating in Syria, as well as publicly available sources.
"What we're saying is that we have seen information that Russia is targeting civilian infrastructure. And we would point you to Syrian NGOs on the ground as well as open source reporting on that," US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said during a press briefing on Monday.
Earlier, reports in Western media suggested that Russian forces bombed as many as six hospitals. The number was later revised to a single medical facility, since there are no hospitals in the other settlements the military aircraft targeted that day.
The only hospital which could have been hit during the Russian-led aerial campaign is therefore located in the town of Sarmin. On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry released aerial images of the locality which show that the hospital in Sarmin had not been destroyed.
#СИРИЯ There is aerial photo of #SARMIN town taken by the Russian aviation on October 31, 2015 pic.twitter.com/XllihyDVe4
— Минобороны России (@mod_russia) 2 ноября 2015
#SYRIA Photos demonstrate the #SARMIN hospital, located near distinctive dome-shaped buildings pic.twitter.com/C9uKbgOMPR
— Минобороны России (@mod_russia) 2 ноября 2015
#SYRIA It can be seen that #SARMIN hospital building is absolutely undamaged. The street suffered no damage as well pic.twitter.com/QCJoSh9gR7
— Минобороны России (@mod_russia) 2 ноября 2015
"How about this? I'll take your question. If there's information we can share, we'll get back to you. Okay," Trudeau said referring to the photos.
"I am not going to share intelligence and operational information," he said.
Russia launched its aerial campaign aimed at assisting Damascus-led forces in their fight against terrorism groups in the country following a formal request from Bashar al-Assad.
