Seven rescue workers killed in Syria town

BEIRUT — Unidentified assailants shot dead seven members of Syria's White Helmets rescue service early yesterday during a raid on their base in a jihadist-held northwestern town, the group said.

The attackers struck in the town of Sarmin, nine kilometers (six miles) east of the city of Idlib, that is controlled by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham jihadist alliance.

"The civil defense center in Sarmin was the target of an armed attack by unknown assailants in which seven volunteers were killed," the White Helmets said in statement. "Two minibuses, some white helmets and walkie-talkies were stolen."

It was not immediately clear whether the motives for the raid were political or purely criminal. The White Helmets emerged in 2013, working to rescue civilians in rebel-held areas.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the seven volunteers had all been killed by bullets to the head. "Colleagues came in the morning for the change of shift and found them dead," its director, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP.

Their detractors, including President Bashar al-Assad's government and his ally Russia, accuse them of being tools of their international donors. They receive funding from a number of Western governments, including Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States.

Critics also accuse them of harboring rebel fighters, including jihadists, in their ranks.