Israel evacuates Syrian rescue workers stranded at frontier
● Evacuation from Golan Heights after request from US and Europe
Israeli military evacuated hundreds of Syrian rescue workers from the volatile frontier area on the Golan Heights and transported them to Jordan,
The evacuation of the rescue workers, known as White Helmets, followed a request by the United States and its European allies, officials said.
It was the first such Israeli intervention in Syria’s lengthy civil war, now in its eight year.
Jordan confirmed the Syrian citizens entered its territory to be resettled in Western countries.
Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said the total number of evacuees was 422, though the initial request was to evacuate 800. It was unclear what happened to the remainder.
Safadi later tweeted that Jordan approved the evacuahostile. tions after a pledge from Britain, Germany and Canada that the Syrian evacuees would be resettled in three months.
The White Helmets and their families had been stranded along the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights following the Syrian government offensive in southwestern Syria which began in June.
The group, which operates in opposition-held areas, is often targeted in Syrian government attacks on its members and facilities. The Syrian government considers the group a “terrorist” organisation because it works in areas controlled its opponents, where state institutions and services are non-existent.
The Israeli military said the overnight operation was an “exceptional humanitarian gesture” done at the request of the United States 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, where all the warring parties are considered The British International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the Syrian volunteers and their family “have been able to leave Syria for safety” following a joint diplomatic effort by Britain and its international partners.
“The White Helmets have saved over 115,000 lives during the Syrian conflict, at great risk to their own,” the two officials said in a statement Sunday. “We judged that, in these particular circumstances, the volunteers required immediate protection. “
The evacuees are being assisted by the UN refugee agency in Jordan, pending international resettlement.
Jordanian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Mohammed alkayed confirmed the Syrians would remain in a closed area in Jordan for three months before moving on to Britain, Germany and Canada.
Raed Saleh, head of the Syrian Civil Defense 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 numbers of those evacuated.
The Syrian government and Russia view the White Helmets as “agents” of foreign powers and have regularly accused them of staging rescue missions or chemical attacks. Syrian state TV reported the Israeli evacuation of the White Helmets, calling it a “scandal” and saying “terrorist groups” now have “zero options.”
It was reported on friday that U.S. officials were planning to evacuate several hundred Syrian civil defense workers and their families from southwest Syria as Russian-backed government forces closed in on the Quneitra province, along the Golan Heights frontier.
Officials said the White Helmets, who had backing from the United States and other Western nations for years, were likely to be targeted by Syrian forces as they retook control of the southwest.
Evacuation plans were accelerated after last week’s Nato summit in Brussels.