BEIRUT (Reuters) – Seven volunteers with the Syrian civil defense rescue service were killed in a shooting by unidentified attackers in terrorist-held Idlib province, the civil defense said on its Twitter feed.
The attackers stole two vehicles and other equipment in the incident targeting a civil defense office in the town of Sarmin at dawn. Idlib province in northwestern Syria is controlled by terrorist groups.
The civil defense, otherwise known as the "White Helmets", operates in terrorist-held areas of Syria.
In another development, implementation of a deal for the return of a group of Syrian refugees and terrorists to Syria from Lebanon was delayed on Saturday, with a military news outlet saying it was due to "a logistical problem".
Some 300 Syrian terrorists from a group called Saraya Ahl al-Sham in addition to 3,000 refugees were due to be transported back into Syria under the agreement. A Lebanese source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said talks were continuing to resolve the problem, without saying what it was.
The Lebanese security official overseeing the arrangements, General Abbas Ibrahim, said that under the agreement a group of civilians would return to a Syrian government-held area, while the terrorists and their families would go to another area of Syria which he did not identify.