Israel rescues 422 “White Helmets”

The Associated Press reports that Israeli Defense Forces rescued 422 Syrian Civil Defense workers known as “White Helmets” when the Syrians were trapped between Syrian government troops and ISIS. The rescue came at the urging of the United States and Canada.

This was the first such Israeli intervention in Syria’s lengthy civil war, now in its eighth year. Although it has sent aid into Syria and has provided medical treatment to thousands of Syrians who reached the Golan Heights frontier, the Israeli 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 hostile.

It was an unprecedented operation to provide protection and asylum to allies of Western nations in Syria’s complex battlefield.

The White Helmets have enjoyed backing and received finances and training from the United States and other Western nations for years. Because of their work in opposition areas, where they were almost exclusively the only ones to offer rescue services in the face of the government military advances, they were considered public enemy number one by the Syrian government.

The Syrian government and the Russians have designated the White Helmets as terrorists. The Israeli rescue has been used by the Syrian government media as proof of the White Helmets’ collaboration with Western powers;

The State News Agency SANA said “the secret” of the group had been revealed and their “role as an agent ended.”

Syrian lawmaker Khaled Abboud said that “foreign powers are pulling their agents out of the battlefield” because of the Syrian military victories that have quashed the “aggression” against Syria.

Category: Terror War