First White Helmets woman fatality as air strikes hit her family in Syria

A White Helmets rescue worker became the group’s first woman volunteer to be killed, after air strikes hit a rebel town in the Idlib province of northwest Syria.

Sobhiya Al Assad was killed on Saturday alongside members of her family when bombing raids hit their house in the town of Kafr Sejna. The rescue group said: “She’s the first female White Helmet volunteer to be killed. Her service will never be forgotten.”

Most of Idlib is held by extremists and allied rebels, and the territory has been battered by Syrian government air strikes in recent months.

The White Helmets have rescued thousands of civilians trapped under the rubble from air strikes and from the conflict. Most of its 3,700 members are men.

The group emerged in 2013, when Syria’s conflict was nearing its third year, and it focuses on battered, opposition-held zones. Since its formation, more than 200 volunteers have died and 500 have been injured. The group’s motto – “To save one life is to save all of humanity” – is drawn from a verse in the Quran, although the White Helmets insist they treat all victims, regardless of religion.

Some members have received training abroad, returning to instruct colleagues on search and rescue. The group receives funding from countries including Britain, Germany and the United States, but also looks for private donations to buy equipment, including its signature hard hats, that cost US$145 (Dh532) each.

Last year, a Netflix documentary called The White Helmets won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. A second film on the group, Last

Men in Aleppo, was nominated for this year’s Oscars.

More than 200 volunteers have died and 500 have been injured since the search and rescue group was founded in 2013