WHITE HELMETS FORCED TO QUIT SYRIA
▶ Move to safety of hero responders came at request of western countries
Hundreds of the lauded White Helmets civil defence group and their families were moved to safety from Syria early yesterday in an international operation as the forces of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad closed in.
The operation to remove the rescue workers from the province of Quneitra took place at the request of Britain, Germany and Canada, with a view to resettling them in the West on humanitarian grounds.
Amman said 422 people were taken from south-western Syria, over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and into Jordan.
The rescue workers have been praised around the world for their heroism but the Syrian regime accuses them of being a propaganda tool for the West and aligned with militant groups.
They will be kept in a closed location in Jordan and resettled in Britain, Germany and Canada within three months
About 800 people were expected to leave in the operation but it was hampered by Syrian government checkpoints and ISIS-affiliated militants in the area.
Muhannad, a member of the White Helmets in south-western Syria who was unable to reach Quneitra, told The National that about 260 civil defence workers left with about an equal number of relatives.
Muhannad said that the prospect of regime retaliation had forced the group’s members to retreat to safer areas or flee.
“When the negotiations took place with the Russians, the negotiators could not give us clear answers about our fate. There were no guarantees about our safety,” he said.
The organisation has been told that it was a one-time evacuation, but its members are lobbying for more to be allowed to escape as the regime advances.
“We are making pleas for humanitarian reasons to evacuate the rest in Deraa,” Muhannad said of the province neighbouring Quneitra.
The Syrian government is now accusing those remaining of collaborating with Israel and threatening that they “will be executed” for their dealings with the country that Syria has long been at war.
“We want to leave to any safe place and we want to be evacuated quickly,” Muhannad said of the dozens of rescue workers who remain trapped.
White Helmets head Raed
Saleh said the relocated workers had arrived in Jordan after being “surrounded in a dangerous region”.
Mr Saleh told The National that the relocated people had been encircled in the two provinces. He wrote on Twitter that the White Helmets would release an official statement on the matter today.
German weekly magazine Bild, the first to break the news of the relocation, quoted German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas as saying: “Humanity dictates that many of these brave first-aiders should now find protection and refuge, some of them in Germany.”
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, at a Nato meeting a week ago, “called for global leadership to support and help these heroes” .
The White Helmets, founded in 2013 amid Syria’s bloody civil war, have rescued thousands of civilians trapped under the rubble or caught up in fighting in opposition-held zones along the fronts.
Since its formation, when Syria’s conflict was nearing its third year, more than 200 of its volunteers have died and 500 have been wounded.
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, including in Turkey, returning to instruct colleagues on searchand-rescue techniques.
The group receives funding from the British, German and US governments, but also accepts donations.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt confirmed the operation in a joint statement. “We judged that, in these particular circumstances, the volunteers required immediate protection,” they said.
Last year, a Netflix production called The White Helmets won an Academy Award for the best short documentary. A second film about the group, Last Men in Aleppo, was this year nominated for an Oscar.