Aleppo said good bye to another angel of mercy

From the beginning of the revolution when peaceful unarmed protesters were being shot at by the regime security men, Assad declared it to be illegal for medical workers to treat any of their victims.

For those in the medical field who take the Hippocratic Oath to treat the sick to the best of their ability seriously, obeying such an unjust order was unthinkable.

Even so many physicians chose to leave Syria rather than risk their lives. Sadly, among those who chose to stay, many more have been killed by the relentless bombing of the regime.

But still there are those who choose to continue on. For them Syria is their home and they know that if they leave too their fellow Syrians will be left with no one.

They are angels of mercy putting their earthly lives at risk in order to save others in the midst of a living hell.

Just a few days ago another one of those angels of mercy was lost when the field hospital where he worked in Anadan, a northern suburb of Aleppo, was targeted by Russian warplanes.

Abdul Rahman Obeid, a surgical nurse, was martyred in the inferno that the hospital became after being hit and his body was turned into ashes.

The shelling by the Russians with cluster bombs which caused the death of Abdul Rahman wounded other medical staff in the hospital as well and devastated the field hospital leaving it completely unusable.

Abdul-Rahman had devoted his life to working as a surgical nurse traveling between a number of field hospitals to work, and evacuating and responding to hundreds of wounded and injured.

He also contributed to the training of many young people in first aid, and later become an important staff member in a number of field hospitals.

Abdul-Rahman preferred to stay in the liberated areas rather than to travel or seek asylum, so that he would be able to help the people and treat the civilian casualties, and save those who could be saved in spite of an almost complete absence of medicines and medical equipment.

Abdul Rahman also appeared in graphic videos appealing to humanitarian organizations to move on behalf of those working in the medical field in Syria and arrange for the delivery of hospital supplies and emergency materials. 

But he also expressed frustration and sorrow at his inability to save the lives of hundreds of wounded because of the lack of hospital equipment and inadequate supplies.