[ad_1]
More than 400 White Helmets, volunteer first aid workers in rebel areas in Syria, and their family members were evacuated overnight by Israel to Jordan as they appeared trapped by the regime's offensive in Syrian south.
The number of evacuees, 422 according to a new figure provided by the Jordanian authorities, must be welcomed by Great Britain, Germany and Canada, who are at the initiative of this operation executed in the greatest secrecy
The White Helmets have become famous for their relief operations in Syria, where the conflict has left more than 350,000 dead and considerable damage since 2011. Their work, highly publicized, had earned them to be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016.
The evacuation operation comes as the regime of Bashar al-Assad is on the point, with the help of Moscow, to take back to the rebels the the last sectors they control in southern Syria.
The pro-government forces now control the vast majority of the provinces of Deraa and Quneitra, which borders the part of the Golan Heights occupied by Israel. the military offensive they launched on June 19 and capitulation agreements negotiated by Moscow.
After various sources announced Sunday morning that about 800 Syrians, members of the White Helmets and their families, had were evacuated from Syria via Israel to Jordan, the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in the evening that only 422 people had arrived in the kingdom.
They must be accommodated in Jordan for up to three months before being transferred to the Great Britain, Germany and Canada, who have come out to welcome them, according to authorities in Amman
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safad I also informed his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, whose country is allied with Damascus, "details of the operation" of evacuation.
– "Purely humanitarian" –
The head of the White Helmets Raëd Saleh has told AFP that "a certain number of volunteers had been evacuated with their families for purely humanitarian reasons" because they were in danger in the provinces of Quneitra and Deraa, because of "repeated threats against them by Russia and the regime. "
Moscow and Damascus Accuse Rescuers of Being Linked to Jihadist Groups and Carrying" Lies "About Their Military Operations
It is as yet impossible to know how many rescuers are still in southern Syria.
One of them, in the city of Deraa, was determined to stay. "I will not abandon my country, this country is ours and we have the right to live in it safely," he told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Israeli army, the operation took place in the night from Saturday to Sunday and the relatives of the evacuated White Helmets are mostly children.
According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the evacuees, whose Israeli army had a list of names, converged on two separate meeting points. The army opened these two crossings and put people on buses that took them directly to a border crossing with Jordan.
"These people saved lives and their lives were now in danger." that's why I agreed to take them via Israel to a third country, "said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The United States congratulated Israel, Jordan, Germany, Canada and the United States Britain for their role in this operation
"We are delighted that these brave volunteers, who have saved thousands of lives, are now out of danger," commented the State Department.
Syrian state did not say a word about the evacuation of White Helmets but said Sunday night that an Israeli air raid on Sunday had targeted a "military position" of the regime in the west of the country, doing "only material damage" "
-" Living in s "-
In London, Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt and International Development Minister Penny Mordaunt said in a statement that they" felt (…) that (White Helmets) needed immediate protection. ", recalling that they had been" the target of attacks "in the past.
In Berlin, a diplomatic source confirmed to AFP that Germany, which financed the group to the tune of 12 million since 2016, "will participate with several international partners in the reception of evacuated White Helmets".
The German Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer has entrusted the daily Bild that his country would welcome eight rescuers and their families, about 50 people according to publication.
The Canadian Foreign Ministry badured that Ottawa would accommodate up to 50 White Helmets and their families.
According to the public channel CBC could be a contingent of about 250.
For Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, Canada "feels a deep moral responsibility for those who show bravery and altruism." [19659002] Volunteers, the White Helmets are out of anonymity thanks to poignant videos relayed on social networks, showing them, helmets on the head, to rush on the bombed places to extract survivors, especially children, buried under the rubble buildings destroyed by the bombing of the regime or its Russian ally
These rescuers insist on their neutrality and their non-affiliation with a political or armed group.
© 2018 AFP. All rights of reproduction and representation reserved. All information reproduced in this section (news, photos, logos) is protected by intellectual property rights held by AFP. Therefore, none of this information may be reproduced, modified, reposted, translated, exploited commercially or reused in any way without the prior written consent of AFP.
[ad_2]Source link
