The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Thursday that a paramedic who survived an attack that killed 15 aid workers was spared because he asked Israeli soldiers for mercy in Hebrew, adding that he hoped the man's testimony would help win justice.

Assad Al-Nassasrah, a Red Crescent paramedic, survived shootings that killed 15 emergency and aid workers on March 23 in southern Gaza in an incident that drew international condemnation. Their bodies were found buried in a shallow grave a week later by Red Crescent and U.N. officials who accused Israeli forces of killing them.

Syria’s new Islamist government has a hard time enforcing its control over affiliated militants who are seeking to drive Russians out and attack minorities at the risk of further destabilising the country.

An armed group linked to Syria’s new Islamist government briefly attacked Russia’s Hmeimim air base in western Syria on Tuesday, a war monitor and a witness have said.

Extreme-right crime in Germany surged by nearly 50 percent as “politically motivated” offences reached a record high last year.