TEHRAN – From road accidents to infernos and earthquakes, emergency teams are in the front line to provide rescue services to people affected by the catastrophic events, but these days, they are being attacked by the U. S.-Israeli assaults as they rush to save livesamong explosions. 

Cities know the ambulance sirens very well. When the sound echoes in the streets, the other drivers automatically pull over and help speed up emergency response times. 

Emergency teams move towards hazardous places, to the very heart of the danger, where others run away from, to save endangered individuals. But now they have turned into targets themselves by the aggressors.

Since the beginning of the illegal war against Iran, on February 28, over 21 emergency bases have been totally destructed. These are not merely buildings that are destroyed, these are places where rescue missions kick off, networks that make differences between life and death. When an emergency bases is ruined, the pressures on other bases aremultiplied. 

In addition to emergency bases, 18 ambulances with all their essential tools are targeted, making it even more difficult to deliver life-saving services.

Operating aerial emergency services play a pivotal role in saving lives, transferring those injured in remote or impassable areas to medical centers in no time. However, enemies have destructed an emergency helicopter, that could be used in big rescue operations. 

Even the emergency call center was not secure from strikes, being attacked by the U.S. and Israel. 

The center is responsible for receiving emergency calls, dispatching rescuers, and managing operations. In critical situations, the center plays a large part in monitoring relief operations. 

Worse than all these things are the relief workers who are among victims now, being targeted while performing their duties. According to a recent report three rescuers and 49 staff working in emergency bases are martyred. As their colleagues say being a rescuers means accepting the dangers, but no one expects ambulances to be struck.

Despite all these damages and loss of lives, the emergency bases have not ceased providing relief services during crises. Relief teams are on alert, doing their best to help people.  

In cities affected by the war, the sirens of the ambulance are still heard, highlighting the simple but significant fact that even in the most difficult situations, there are people whose main responsibility is saving lives; the relief workers whose facilities and emergency bases might have been damaged, but they have never lost the will to assist people.

According to the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Pirhossein Kolivand, the latest reports show that residential, educational, and medical infrastructures are among main places attacked by the U.S and Israel. 

They have bombarded 24,531 non-military units so far, including 19,775 residential units, 4,511 business units, 160 medical and pharmaceutical centers, and emergency bases, as well as 69 schools.

They have also targeted 16 medical centers run by the IRCS, 21 rescue vehicles and 19 ambulances. 

Within the first eleven days of the war, started on February 28, a total of 16,788 civilians are wounded, including 79 health and emergency staff and 159 teachers and students, and 12 medical staff and aid workers have been martyred, according to IRNA.