They are dubbed “White Helmets” for the headgear that should provide protection. Instead, it offers identification of the mostly volunteer rescue workers. They are war-torn Syria’s first responders to civilian casualties.
The Syrian Civil Defense is 3,000 members strong. In the contested city of Aleppo, Mahmoud Fadlallah mans search-and-rescue operations. The “White Helmets” were among the rescuers who pulled little five-year-old Omran Daqneesh and his family from the rubble of their apartment building in August. A haunting photo of Omran, sitting alone in an ambulance—dazed, dusty, and bloody—touched the world.
“People are dying, and we run toward death,” says Fadlallah. That’s because the Civil Defense responds after attacks endanger citizens. But the rescue workers are also targeted by Syrian government forces. After the first strike, warplanes circle around and return. They hit the target a second time, when rescue workers have been dispatched to help the wounded.
Fadlallah has lost two colleagues since June. One of them, Khaled Omran Harrah, had rescued a 10-day-old infant in 2014. The baby was trapped for 16 hours. This year, Harrah, Fadlallah, and five other White Helmets were working to extract a survivor at a blast scene when they came under the second attack.
"They must have seen us coming, and they started striking us with a tank, mortars, and airstrikes," Fadlallah says.
The group took cover in a building, but it wasn’t enough. Harrah was killed. Fadlallah sustained shrapnel wounds. The man they came to rescue died.
To date, the White Helmets have lost 134 rescuers in the line of duty, says director Raed Saleh. They’re credited with saving 60,000 lives.
Supporters around the world nominated the Syrian Civil Defense for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. But Syrian government sympathizers accuse the group of aiding terrorists. The lines are not clear.
Why Is Syria at War?
The Syrian civil war began in 2011 after two incidents. In the early 2000s, Syrian citizens began to express discontent with President Bashar al-Assad’s leadership. Most complaints were related to economic and political policies.
In March 2011, some prominent, wealthy, young adult men were arrested for scrawling anti-government graffiti in public. Some of the young men died in detention. The people responsible for the deaths were not dealt with satisfactorily, according to Syrian citizens. People protested.
The following month, additional anti-government demonstrations formed in Syria’s streets. The Syrian army responded by firing into crowds of demonstrators. By July 2011, a rebellion was underway, led by the Free Syrian Army (FSA)—the people’s militia.
At first, the FSA was made of local people, military deserters, and tribal groups. But these freedom fighters were under-manned and under-supplied. Islamist Jihadists saw an opportunity. The militant extremists with their own religious agenda offered support to the FSA. The FSA allowed coalitions with the jihadists, and the result, five years later, is an ongoing war in which it’s impossible to tell who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.
Meanwhile, Syrian residents suffer. Almost five million have fled as refugees. They seek safety outside Syria’s borders. Those who stay may find their homes targeted.
The White Helmets grew from volunteer first responders in the areas being shelled. The Civil Defense now operates in 119 centers across Syria. Fadlallah was a construction worker before the war. The White Helmets enlist any able bodies available: carpenters, students, lawyers, doctors.
Against the backdrop of the ongoing war, Wendy Chamberlain called for world recognition of the Syrian Civil Defense. “Honoring a group of brave, and for the most part, anonymous humanitarians represents the true value of the Nobel Peace Prize,” says the president of the Middle East Institute in Washington. The White Helmets didn’t win.
Still, Saleh says praise and acknowledgement—while good for morale—isn’t his priority. “We call for an end to the killing of civilians through indiscriminate attacks in any area in Syria,” he says. And that seems like a noble request.
