Israel evacuates 800 Syrian volunteers

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said yesterday it had rescued members of a Syrian volunteer civil organisation from the volatile frontier area and evacuated them to a third country, the first such Israeli intervention in Syria’s lengthy civil war.

Jordan confirmed that 800 Syrian citizens have entered its territory to be resettled in Western countries. The volunteers, known as White Helmets, had been stranded along the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights following the latest Syrian government offensive in south-western Syria.

The Israeli military said the operation was an “exceptional humanitarian gesture” done at the request of the US and its European allies due to “an immediate threat to the (Syrians’) lives”.

The military said its actions did not reflect a change to Israel’s non-intervention policy in Syria’s war, now in its eight year, where all the warring parties are considered hostile.

The Syrians would remain in Jordan for three months before moving to Britain, Germany and Canada, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Mohammed al-Kayed said.

Raed Saleh, head of the Syrian Civil Defence, as the White Helmets are also known, said a number of volunteers and their families were evacuated from a besieged area and had reached Jordan.

The Israeli military said it would continue to aid those in need but wouldn’t allow a massive influx of refugees into the country.