Israeli troops evacuate 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 overnight 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 on to Britain, Germany and Canada, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Mohammed al-Kayed said.

“The request was approved based on pure humanitarian reasons,” he added.

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 dangerous, besieged area and had reached Jordan. He did not elaborate on the number of those evacuated.

Media first reported on Friday that US officials were finalising plans to evacuate several hundred Syrian civil defence workers and their families from south-west Syria as Russian-backed government forces closed in on the Quneitra province, along the Golan Heights frontier.

Since the Syrian government offensive began in June, the area along the frontier in the Golan Heights has been the safest in the south-western region, attracting hundreds of displaced because of its location along the disengagement line with Israel, demarcated in 1974 after a war. Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since 1967. Thousands of civilians had taken shelter near the frontier to escape the government offensive.

Syrian state TV Al-Ikhbariya reported the Israeli evacuation of the White Helmets, calling it a “scandal” and saying “terrorist groups” now had “zero options”.

Some Syrians have opted to be evacuated to northern Idlib province, where the opposition still holds territory. Thousands of armed men and their families were evacuated over the weekend.

Two buses carrying evacuees were held up by a pro-Syrian government militia, apparently after they went off road.

Panicked passengers, fearing for their lives, posted pictures of the militia surrounding their buses on social media.

Al-Kayed, the Jordanian spokesperson, said the transfer of the 800 Syrians did not put the kingdom under any further obligations.

Israel has been sending aid into Syria for several years and has provided medical treatment to thousands of Syrians who reached the Golan Heights frontier.

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