BBC在线收听下载:俄罗斯驱逐23名英国外交人员

This is the BBC News. Hello, I'm Jonathan Izard.

Tens of thousands people have fled from the northern Syrian city of Afrin to escape a ferocious Turkish military assault against the Kurdish militia defending the city. The city hospital is reported to have been hit in the deadly airstrike. Mark Lowen reports. As the Turkish military and Syrian rebels close in on Afrin, there is a growing exodus of those inside, left without water and electricity and dwindling food supplies. It seems Turkey's aim is to besiege the town before moving in to expel the YPG Kurdish fighters. They and Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group say 16 people died in a Turkish airstrike on Afrin's main hospital. That's been denied by the Turkish military which says its two-month long operation has not harmed civilians.

Civilians are also continuing to leave the rebel-held enclave of eastern Ghouta outside Damascus which is under a concerted Syrian government offensive. Pictures broadcast by state media show a constant stream of people leaving the area. Monitoring group said at least 30 people were killed in an airstrike in the town of Zwanka as they were preparing to cross from rebel-held territory. Several others were injured. Observers say that about ten thousand people have left the enclave so far today. About 70% of the rebel-held area has been captured by Syrian government forces.

Russia is expelling 23 British diplomats mirroring a similar move by London in the row of the poisoning of a Russian double agent. From Moscow, here is Sarah Rainsford. Moscow took its time to response to the UK sanctions, but three days after London announced the biggest expulsion of Russian diplomats since the Cold War, Britain's ambassador here was summoned to the Foreign Ministry. Inside the imposing Stalin-era tower, officials handed over a list of names and additional measures. The measures sent outlined by a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman go further than the UK sanctions that they do stop short of a major escalation. As well as expelling diplomats, Russia announced that it was closing the British consulate in Saint Petersburg and shutting down the British Council. But given the mood here, Moscow might have gone further. Officials continue to deny any link to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and insist that there is no evidence.

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