Two Syrian civilians, including a medic, have been killed in an attack by Bashar al-Assad’s forces on British aid convoy ambulances in the city of Idlib.
Ten people were seriously injured and six ambulances were left immobilised during the aerial attack.
The vehicles were delivered to Syria earlier this year as part of an aid effort by British charities operating under the umbrella of “Unity Convoy”, which is considered the “world’s longest ambulance convoy” consisting of 100 ambulances driven from the UK to Syria.
The ambulances to date have saved hundreds of lives since arriving in Syria in June.
Unity Convoy spokesman, Alim Shamas, said: “The direct bombing of our ambulances is an outrage.
“This type of attack only renews our conviction to continue with this work.
“We have already offered replacement ambulances as a result of this atrocity.”
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Salman Khayyat, a local resident who lives a few roads away from the site of the attack, said: “I was on my way home when the plane threw its bombs. People were running, there was a huge explosion when the bomb landed and smoke everywhere.
“I can’t understand why a medical facility was targeted. People are dead. Where is the justice?”
According to Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), a US-based organisation which uses medicine and science to document mass atrocities and human rights violations, 478 medical facilities have been attacked since the start of the war in 2011, with 312 attacks launched by the Assad regime and its allies.
PHR figures also show that over 800 medical personnel have been killed since the start of the war with 48 deaths in this year alone.
Leaders of charities which make up Unity Convoy spoke out against the attack and called on the humanitarian community to do more to help Syrian civilians.
