SYRIA AMONG WORST HUMANITARIAN CRISES

Medics in Syria have been treating more wounds from tank and aircraft bombardment in the past month, charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on August 21, the latest sign government forces are using heavier weaponry to try to crush the uprising. Wounds inflicted on victims of the violence have worsened since the July 18 bomb attack that killed members of President Bashar Assad’s inner circle, including his defence minister and brother-in-law, the medical organisation said. Medics from the charity are seeing more injuries from tank shelling, aerial bombardment and heavy artillery than at any other time during the 17-month-old conflict which has killed 18,000, MSF said. US officials, meanwhile, said the conflict had turned Syria into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, exacerbated by attacks on aid workers.