BEIRUT (AP) — An airstrike in northern Syria killed four medics responding to an earlier bombing raid, a relief group said Wednesday, as the U.N. announced it would resume aid deliveries suspended after an attack on a convoy two days ago that killed 20.
The escalation of violence against humanitarian workers has all but destroyed a cease-fire that took effect on September 12, and has stoked tensions between the truce’s architects, the U.S. and Russia, which have traded blame for running it into the ground.
The U.N said convoys to priority areas would be resumed, with deliveries planned as early as Thursday. “Our obligation to civilians on all sides is to go where and when we can with relief,” said Jan Egeland, a senior U.N. humanitarian official. “We hope to resume convoys tomorrow and Friday, but still work on security guarantees.”
But air raids continued in other parts of Syria, with activists reporting at least 23 civilians killed in the besieged parts of Aleppo city and the rebel-held Idlib province.
The attack that killed the medics took place shortly after they arrived at the scene of an airstrike in the rebel-held town of Khan Touman on Tuesday. As the medics deployed, planes circled around and struck the area again, Dr. Oubaida Al Moufti, vice president of the International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, said. The group said two nurses and two ambulance drivers were killed, while a third nurse remains in critical condition.
Syrian government forces have been accused of carrying out “double tap” attacks throughout the war, placing paramedics in peril.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nine militants, some of them belonging to the Fatah al-Sham Front, an al-Qaida-linked group, were also killed in the “double tap” attack.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the strike. Aircraft from Syria, Russia and the U.S.-led coalition are targeting the Fatah al-Sham Front, which along with the Islamic State group was excluded from the cease-fire.
The airstrike on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy Monday night prompted international condemnation over attacks targeting humanitarian facilities and workers. The convoy was carrying U.N. aid.
The U.S. initially said it believed Russian or Syrian government jets were behind the attack on the aid convoy. But a senior U.S. official said Wednesday that Washington has determined with a very high degree of confidence that the attack was carried out by a Russian aircraft.
