action in what will be the biggest ever nhs walk out in england. we are still hopefully on track and getting waiting lists below a year at the end of march. the more strikes we have, the more challenging that becomes. at the moment, ourstaff challenging that becomes. at the moment, our staff are working incredibly hard to get the waiting lists down. let us know how the strikes are affecting you and do you support them? you can get in touch with your thoughts on this story and the rest of the days news by contacting me on twitter @annitabbc or using the hashtag #bbc your questions we re bringing you special coverage of breaking news this hour a powerful earthquake which has struck northern syria and south eastern turkey, killing more than 640 people. the tremor had a magnitude of seven point eight, and struckjust before dawn. the epicentre was in the turkish province of gaziantep but buildings collapsed hundreds of miles away, and there are also reports of many casualtie
with many areas held by rebel groups, is also very serious. these pictures were filmed in idlib, they show how buildings have simply collapsed. it s feared many people were inside, sleeping, when the tremor struck before dawn. the white helmets, the medical and rescue group which works in rebel held areas of syria, rescued this child from a collapsed building in azaz, that s a town just a few miles from the border with turkey. syria s government says more than 220 people have been killed, and 600 more injured in government held areas. the figure in rebel held territories is not yet clear, but given that they are generally closer to the epicentre of the quake, they are likely to be substantial. here s ismail alabdallah, a spokesman for the syrian white helmets, outlining the situation. many buildings in different cities and villages in north west syria collapsed, destroyed by this earthquake.
in turkey s gaziantep province, which borders northern syria. it camejust after 4am in the morning, local time. but there have been almost 30 other shocks in the region, all powerful enough to magnify the damage. the earthquake was felt 700 kilometres away in gaza and egypt. turkey has declared a state of emergency. the syrian government is also taking emergency measures, but the response in that country is being made far more complex by the effects of the civil war. while turkey s allies, including the us, the european union and nato, have offered help, there have been far fewer offers for syria, many western countries have shunned its government for its actions during the civil war, but they also consider many of the opposition rebel groups to be terrorist organisations. the casualty figures are horrific. turkey s president erdogan says that at least 912 people died in his country, with nearly 5,400 people injured. syrian government figures say at
battlefield inside syria is simple. there s the regime, the legitimate government of the people of syria, opposed to him are all of these terrorist groups and so for them, they re not making that distinction between isis territory and rebel-held or opposition-held territory. what this does is complicate the ability of the u.s. to respond. here s what we know. the united states has defended the opposition rebel groups in the past. they have targeted isis rebel fighters moving towards those opposition fighters. the question now is going to be will the coalition, will the united states and the arab allies pursue the same strategy of trying to protect some of those opposition rebels from air strikes? will they try to neutralize the air force and will they try to discourage the russians from going after them? i think those are questions that the secretary of defense and certainly a lot of the arab allies are faced with in the coming days as this situation continues to unfold, brian. ayman
done, and not just on the u.s. and international community condemn it, but to implement a no aerial bombardment campaign over syria. they want to see the u.s. and its allies impose this no-fly zone. according to the syrian national coalition, they believe those that were targeted today inside the areas of homs where the russians carried out the air strikes, included civilians. three children amongst 35 civilians that were killed. these are the first responders if you will of the syrian opposition. so they re very clear about what they think happened today and who the russians were going after. now, in addition to the syrian opposition, we re also starting to get some insight from some of the arab leaders who are substantiating what ash carter was saying, that they don t believe russia was going after isis, but going after other members of the syrian opposition, particularly rebel groups that have been supported