UNITED NATIONS: Russia told the United Nations (UN) on Monday it was "outraged" by allegations that it had killed civilians in Syria and destroyed civilian infrastructure as a United States (US)-based rights group accused Moscow's air force of bombing 10 medical facilities in October.

Russia launched air strikes in Syria to help bolster forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the end of September, but Western powers accuse Moscow of targeting anti-Assad rebels instead of the self-styled Islamic State (IS) militants. A US-led coalition has been bombing IS in Syria and Iraq for more than year.

Physicians for Human Rights said there had been 16 attacks on medical facilities in Syria in October, the worst toll since the civil war began nearly five years ago. It blamed at least 10 of those attacks and one death on Russian air strikes.

"We are outraged by different types of information regarding alleged civilian deaths and destruction of civilian infrastructure as a result of missile and air strikes by the Russian armed forces," Russian Deputy United Nation Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov told a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Syria.

Read: US and Russian bombing in Syria

Citing recent meetings of an International Syria Support Group in Vienna that aims to end the conflict, he dubbed unacceptable what he called "the politicisation of human rights and humanitarian topics." Without laying any blame, UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien told the Security Council that attacks on civilian infrastructure continued unabated.

"We need a firm commitment from the parties to the conflict to take all necessary measures to protect civilians and stop the targeting of civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities, schools and key infrastructure networks," he said.

A Syrian government crackdown on a pro-democracy movement in early 2011 led to an armed uprising. IS militants took advantage of the chaos to seize territory in Syria and Iraq.

The UN says at least 250,000 people have been killed during the conflict, while four million have fled.

"Increased fighting in Northern Syria, including Russian military operations, has also had a significant impact on the humanitarian situation," US Deputy UN Ambassador Michele Sison told the Security Council, adding that in October alone, about 130,000 people had been newly displaced in Aleppo, Idlib, and Hama.

Read: Obama apologises to MSF for air strike on hospital: White House

The US apologised in October to medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) for a deadly bombing of its hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, while a Saudi Arabia-led coalition was accused by the UN of bombing a hospital in Yemen.