Red Cross warns of attacks on medics

Medics are increasingly coming under attack in the world’s war zones, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The aid group said recent incidents in Syria, Bahrain and Yemen indicate a wider trend toward targeting health care workers.

Director-general Yves Daccord said there is also a sense that attacks on medics are prompting less outrage than they previously would have.

An ICRC medical adviser, Robin Coupland, said that the knock-on effects of attacks on health workers are immense.

He said they contributed to the exodus of half Iraq’s doctors between 2003 and 2008, leaving entire communities without medical care.

Targeting medics or hospitals is forbidden under the rules of war.