Four medical staff were killed and a nurse critically wounded in an air strike on a village near Syria’s second city Aleppo late on Tuesday, their aid group said.
The Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations (UOSSM) said the strike hit two of its ambulances in Khan Tuman, a village south of Aleppo city, as workers evacuated victims from a previous strike.
The medical group had said earlier that the raid hit a clinic in Khan Tuman, but later clarified that it struck first responders in their ambulances.
“Today, UOSSM lost four of its members and the life of one nurse is hanging by a thread,” said Dr Ziad Alissa, the head of UOSSM’s branch in France.
“Deliberately targeting humanitarian workers and medical professionals is a clear violation of international humanitarian law,” he said.
“We appeal to the international community to act swiftly to put a stop to these atrocities. Too many lives have been lost.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said the first raid killed nine medical staff affiliated with the Army of Conquest rebel alliance.
The alliance groups Islamist rebels with former Al Qaeda affiliate the Fateh al-Sham Front and Moscow has repeatedly demanded that it be disbanded to allow intensified air strikes against the militant faction.
Khan Tuman is near Orum al-Kubrah, the town where an attack on aid trucks and a warehouse killed around 20 civilians on Monday, triggering a war of words between major powers after Washington accused Moscow of responsibility.
According to the World Health Organisation, Syria is the most dangerous country in the world for health professionals with 135 strikes on clinics and hospitals last year.
