WHO staff member killed in Syria air strike

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported that one of its staff members was killed in an air strike in Syria today, Reuters reports.

Emad Shehab, an engineer in the city of Deir Ez-Zor, was killed in the early hours of this morning when his building was hit during a series of air strikes across the area, WHO said.

Shehab worked as WHO’s focal point for water, sanitation and hygiene in the city.

“His untimely death is a stark reminder of the ongoing violence and suffering endured by the people of Syria. He will be greatly missed,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.

My colleagues and I are heartbroken at the tragic loss of another one of our own in an airstrike in #Syria this morning, engineer Emad Shehab. We extend our deepest condolences to his family.

Emad served as the @WHO water and sanitation focal point in Deir-ez-Zor. His untimely… pic.twitter.com/vG1A2IRsid

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 26, 2024

READ: War in Syria has dragged a generation into insecurity and deprivation