Syrian and Russian forces 'weaponised healthcare' by deliberately targeting ambulances in civil war,

[TomSea]

Syrian and Russian forces 'weaponised healthcare' by deliberately targeting ambulances in civil war, researchers say
@_richardhall

Syrian government and Russian armed forces deliberately and repeatedly targeted ambulances as part of a calculated strategy to gain the upper hand in the country’s civil war, a new study has claimed.

Researchers analysed over 200 individual attacks involving 243 ambulances, more than half of which were deliberately targeted. Some 60 per cent of the attacks were carried out by Syrian government forces, while 29 per cent were blamed on Russia, which joined the conflict on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in 2015.

The “weaponisation of healthcare” has been used throughout the conflict “to destabilise, intimidate, and demoralise”, the researchers wrote in BMJ Global Health, a peer-reviewed online journal.

Read more at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-war-russia-healthcare-ambulances-civil-weapons-army-government-a8654841.html?amp