NOAH LEVY (Guest writer)

A Christian-Jewish humanitarian organisation has provided five refurbished ambulances to religious minority populations in southern Syria as violence against Christian and Druze communities escalates, according to a press release from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

The vehicles, formerly operated by Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency medical service, were transferred to local medical teams on Sunday and fitted with medical kits to equip emergency medical technicians and doctors responding to civilian casualties.

Medical personnel also received first-aid and emergency response instruction from MDA paramedics focussing on proper operation of the vehicles and equipment.

The Fellowship coordinated the transfer with Magen David Adom, COGAT and the Israel Defence Forces.

“When Druze and Christian communities just across our border are targeted for their faith, indifference is not an option,” Yael Eckstein, the Fellowship’s president and global chief executive, said in the statement.

The delivery follows attacks on the minority populations over the past year in areas where access to emergency medical care remains limited.

Last year, the Fellowship established two medical clinics in buffer zone villages, supplied hospitals in the Al-Suwayda region with equipment and medicines, and distributed thousands of food parcels to families affected by recent violence.

The organisation has previously assisted persecuted Christians in the region, including providing food aid, funding medical facilities and supporting refugees fleeing Islamic State attacks.