Portrait helmets: Help, where no one is going

In an unusual rescue operation Israel put the Syrian white helmets in a safe place. The action is also a tribute to caregivers trying to reduce suffering throughout their lives.

By Björn Blaschke, ARD Cairo Studio

Many monuments have been set up for white helmets. The youngest to date: a documentary film named after them, which won an Oscar last year. The film shows what the white helmets in Syria did. According to their own information, they have saved 115,000 lives so far. Characters with the fate behind them, like a little boy.

White helmets discover it in 2016 after an air raid under the rubble of a house. At first only his hair is visible; in the middle of rubble and dust. Men with white helmets unearth him with their bare hands. "Quick, a cup of water," shouts one, the boy, who may be four or five, takes a sip. "Spit, spit," said a rescuer, "spit dust!" "Do you suffer?" Asks another child. "No," says the boy gently

Deployment in Besieged Places

White Helmets are in the Syrian War, where no one else goes, in disputed areas, to besieged places where care of health collapsed

. The organization, also known as Syrian Civil Defense, is launched by a former British officer. His call was followed in 2013 by civilians, who were previously mainly artisans, teachers, retailers. At first, it is a small group that is growing rapidly, until white helmets at their weddings have nearly 3,000 men and women with 120 bases in Syria. They receive financial support from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Germany

The regime speaks of the proximity of al-Qaeda

Their use in areas of Opposition and support from those who are called enemies of Damascus There are many reasons why the ruling government accuses Bashar al-Assad and his allies of blaming White Helmets for their bias. An extended arm of the West, be the white helmets. According to some reports of Assad, White Helmets worked with groups affiliated with al Qaeda

Al Qaeda close or not, enemy regime or American friend: more than 200 of their badistants have their lives. left – like white helmets. And they received the alternative Nobel Prize in 2016.