He claimed the attacks were in retaliation for “White Helmets” volunteers winning the global “Right Livelihood Award” on Thursday in recognition of their efforts to rescue and provide medical care for those injured in attacks.
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In early September, the White Helmets were among 73 aid groups that suspended ties with the United Nations, accusing its humanitarian agencies and their partners of being manipulated by the Syrian regime.
In this photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense group known as the White Helmets, a destroyed ambulance is seen outside the Syrian Civil Defense main center after airstrikes in Ansari neighborhood in the rebel-held part of eastern Aleppo, Syria, Sept. 23, 2016.
Ibrahim Alhaj, a member of the Syrian Civil Defense, said at least two civil defense centers have been targeted in the air bombing campaign that usually accelerates after dark.
The 3,000-strong group grew out of networks of volunteer first responders who were rescuing victims from government shelling and bombardment in opposition areas.
Swedish-German philatelist Jakob von Uexkull founded the donor-funded prize in 1980 after the Nobel Foundation refused to create awards honouring efforts in the fields of the environment and worldwide development.
“They come in after the bombs have fallen and free people from the ruins, from the rubble of the houses that have been bombed”, Ole von Uexkull, executive director of Right Livelihood Award Foundation, said of the White Helmets.
Alhaj, of the Civil Defence, confirmed the government troop movements on the city’s southern edge. “(Syrian President Bashar Assad air forces) have directly targeted civil defense centers”, Alhaj said.
After a contentious two-and-a-half hour meeting with colleagues in New York, Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said they would meet again Friday in a bid to find a way forward. “I would only give a prize to whoever works for the peace in Syria”.
The citation said the group has documented human rights violations and co-ordinated the response to sexual assaults on women participating in public protests during and after the 2011 uprising in Egypt.
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Journalists at Cumhuriyet, meanwhile, have been exposed to great personal risk, including imprisonment and murder, because of the newspaper’s reports on human rights, gender equality, secularism and environmental issues, said the Right Livelihood Foundation. The two are appealing the verdict, which increased concerns over media freedoms in Turkey.
