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Rights group: Syria regime killed nearly 900 relief workers since 2011

March 14, 2019 at 11:21 am

Turkish Soldiers and Turkish Red Crescent members distribute humanitarian aid to Syrian families after clearing Deir Ballut village of Jinderes, from PYD/PKK-Daesh terrorists in Afrin, Syria, within “Operation Olive Branch” on 9 March, 2018 [Cem Genco/Anadolu Agency]

The Syrian Network for Human Rights said the regime had killed nearly 900 aid workers since March 2011, while some 4,000 others remain in detention or enforced disappearance, the Anadolu Agency reported.

“A total of 1,109 humanitarian personnel have been killed by key actors in Syria since March 2011,” the network said in a report issued yesterday, adding that “872 of them were killed by the Syrian regime alone, while 91 others were killed by the Russian forces and 47 by Daesh terrorist group”.

According to the report, the armed opposition and anti-regime factions have killed 35 aid workers while nine others were killed by Kurdish fighters affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces. US-led coalition forces have killed 13 aid worker while 42 others were killed by unknown parties, it added.

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According to the same report, as many as 3,984 aid workers have been “detained or subjected to enforced disappearance” during the same period; 3,487 of them are still detained in the regime’s detention centres and 78 by Daesh.

Kurdish militias detain 32 aid workers while at least 27 are being detained by armed opposition groups, the report said.

The report noted that regime forces have surrounded and attacked several hospitals, clinics and field hospitals, which provide aid to wounded demonstrators.

The network stressed that “all attacks on relief centers and workers constitute a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, which call for an end to all violations and abuses committed in armed conflicts against medical personnel and humanitarian workers.”

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