Airstrike in Hama kills eight White Helmets rescuers

BEIRUT: Airstrikes struck a center of Syria’s rescuers known as the White Helmets in a rebel-held area in the country’s center, killing eight volunteers, opposition activists said.

The airstrike was one of the deadliest against the rescuers, who operate in opposition-held areas. They have garnered world attention for operating in extreme conditions, pulling survivors out of recently struck areas.

The volunteers have often been targeted by the Syrian regime’s airstrikes, in what are known as ‘double tap’ attacks, as they work to rescue others.

The local White Helmets in the central Hama province said an air raid on one of their centers in Kfar Zeita killed eight members of the team. The group said five bodies were lifted from the rubble and the rescuers continued to look for the others.

The Britain-based opposition monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the number of those killed is likely to rise as the search mission continues.

It was not clear who carried out the airstrikes, as the Syrian regime and Russian aircraft have targeted opposition-held areas.

The central Hama province has seen intense violence in recent weeks, as the government attempts to push back an opposition offensive.

Separately Saturday, the Syria regime said its troops and allied militias repelled an attack by the Daesh group on a strategic area held by the government in the southern Aleppo province.

The attack took place in Khanaser, southeast Aleppo — a strategic region that links Aleppo with central and western Syria. The area has changed hands many times during the conflict. But last year, the regime’s forces and allies wrested control of Khanaser from Daesh.

The military media arm said that Daesh attacked Um Mayyal village near a mountain range in Khanaser and other areas.

The Observatory said Daesh terrorists launched the attack on military posts in the area, triggering intense clashes and leaving many casualties.

The Daesh-affiliated Aamaq news agency claimed the group killed 30 government soldiers in the attack.

Near the capital, hundreds of Syrians from the opposition-held suburbs of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus protested against infighting between insurgent groups that began Friday and left dozens killed in the area.

The infighting came amid an intensified regime offensive in the area near Damascus, which the opposition has controlled for years but has been increasingly squeezed by government advances.