Five members of the Civil Defense Corps were killed on Monday in Russian air strikes on the town of Al-Atareb in rural northern Aleppo, activists said.
The devastating strikes hit a center for the voluntary group, known as the “White Helmets,” in the town, destroying most of the rescue equipment.
“The targeting was very precise,” Radi Saad, a Civil Defense worker based in northwestern Syria, told Reuters via the internet.
Along with the airstrikes, a surface-to-surface missile also hit the town. The missile was launched from the Military Academy located in western Aleppo which is under the control of regime forces.
The remarkable efforts and bravery of Civil Defense workers have saved lives of thousands of Syrians, especially in the city of Aleppo.
The Syrian Coalition condemned the attack, reiterating its rejection of any attempt to use the humanitarian issues as a card during negotiations. “The massacres the Assad regime has committed over the past two days provide yet further evidence of the legality of the HNC’s decision to suspend participation in the Geneva negotiations and to postpone consultations.”
“Favorable conditions for the political process cannot be created whilst the Assad regime’s killing machine continues to wreak death across Syria. The international community needs to realize that those who kill civilians cannot be partners in any transitional process,” the Coalition added.
President of the Syrian Coalition Anas al-Abdah earlier said that the international community’s soft stance in dealing with Assad, who continues to commit massacres against civilians in Syria, is seen by him as a license to carry on with his crimes against the Syrian people.
Abdah also said that this complete inaction towards Assad’s atrocities represents a bias in favor of a serial killer and a war criminal.
The civil defense workers killed in the attacks are: Ahmed Tariq Abdullah, Khaled Bashar, Ahmed Mahmoud, Hussein Ismail, Hamdo Haj Ibrahim. (Source: Syrian Coalition)
