Ambulances targeted in Syria

London – Ambulances have been intentionally and repeatedly targeted in Syria, researchers said, calling for more efforts to protect medical workers caught up in the conflict.

The research, in the peer-reviewed journal BMJ Global Health, analysed reports of 243 attacks on ambulances in 2016 and 2017 and found more than half were deliberately targeted.

“There is no ambiguity in the results: ambulances are directly and repeatedly targeted in Syria,” said Hayes Wong, one of the authors of the report.

The attacks studied were mostly in opposition-held enclaves in and around Aleppo, Idlib and Damascus and nearly 90% were carried out by Syrian government forces and their Russian allies.

There have been repeated reports of attacks on medical workers and healthcare facilities during Syria’s eight-year conflict, even though both are protected by international law.

Among the most prominent medical workers in Syria are the “White Helmet” rescue workers.

The group, who say they are neutral, have been credited in the West with saving thousands of people in rebel-held areas. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his backers accuse them of acting as propaganda tools and proxies of Islamist-led insurgents.

Paramedics on ambulances are particularly vulnerable to attack as they are highly visible, said the research paper. – Reuters