Imagine you are walking down the street in the city you’ve called home your entire
life and then -- this happens….
This is a scene that plays out everyday in cities across Syria.
The Civil War is currently in its fifth bloody year, and the country is virtually unrecognizable.
City streets are barren, buildings have turned to rubble... and an estimated 250,000 lives
have been lost.
But thousands more would have perished if it wasn’t for one group of civilians who
fearlessly rush toward danger.
When bombs go off, these men and women in white helmets rescue victims caught in the
crossfire.
So who are these so called “White Helmets”?
The White Helmets is the unofficial name for the Syrian Civil Defence, a rescue organization
made up entirely of volunteers who operate in opposition-controlled Syria.
According to their own data, the group have rescued more than 58,000 people, including
Omran Daqneesh, the toddler who painfully reminded the world of the horrors unfolding
in Syria everyday.
The task of these modern day war heroes is extremely dangerous.
To date, around 130 white helmet volunteers have been killed in the country’s relentless
civil war.
One of the groups most notable losses happened in August 2015, when an airstrike killed the
White Helmet volunteer who famously rescued a baby who had been trapped under rubble for
16 hours..
One of the White Helmet’s biggest challenges is barrel and cluster bombs.
These explosives are full of chemicals or bits of metal that are designed to cause indiscriminate
casualties, and are against international law.
Since Russia intervened in the civil war in 2015, these attacks have become more frequent,
with some cities being hit multiple times a day.
Aside from the danger presented by barrel bombs, the white helmets also have to operate
in the presence of rival militias, the Islamic State and groups linked to al-Qaeda.
And they’ve even rescued Syrian government officials, who are themselves often responsible
for many of the attacks.
That’s because the White Helmets are by and large, a non political organization.
That is, their only goal is to “save the greatest amount of lives in the shortest amount
of time”, regardless of the ideological stance of the people they’re rescuing.
However, that’s not to say that the group stays out of the political arena.
The White Helmets have urged the international community to take action against Russia and
Syrian President Bashar al- Assad for use of illegal barrel bombs.
Though the UN argues that aside from banning them, there is little they can do to alleviate
the situation.
The White Helmets have also critiqued the Western world for being too focused on defeating
terror groups than Assad, despite the fact that the Syrian regime is responsible for
considerably more civilian deaths.
.
And maybe that message may be finally getting through.
When the war in Syria escalated around the end of 2012, the White Helmets were relatively
unknown.
Back then, they were comprised of disjointed teams of volunteers.
Today, the White Helmets, are receiving more international attention.
In 2016 the group was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and was featured in a Netflix
Short Documentary.
And thanks in part, to modest funding from individual donors, as well as the UK, Denmark,
Holland, Japan, Germany and the US, they are now a formal emergency response organization.
The White Helmets have a motto: “to save one life, is to save all of humanity”.
And as the Syria faces another failed ceasefire, the volunteers will continue what some have
called the most dangerous job in
the world.