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BEIRUT (AP) – The Israeli military in coordination with its US and European allies evacuated hundreds of Syrian rescue workers known to the White Helmets from near its volatile frontier with Syria, in a complex and first-of-a-kind operation
The evacuees, who were hemmed in from a side by advancing hostile Syrian troops and from another by militants affiliated with the Islamic State group, were transported to Jordan, from where they are expected to be resettled in Europe and Canada in the
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Sunday that 422 White Helmets volunteers were evacuated, instead of the initial 800 cleared for the operation.
Israel's military said the operation was "an exceptional humanitarian gesture" at the request of the United States and European allies due to an "immediate threat to the (Syrians) lives." It posted a video online showing its soldiers handing out water bottles to the evacue
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President of the United States Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and others (19659006) and those lives are now in danger. I, "Netanyahu said,
The US State Department welcomed the rescue of these brave volunteers and cited the United Nations, Israel and Jordan for helping the operation.
The statement from spokeswoman Heather Nauert also called on Syria's government and its ally Russia "to abide by their commitments, end the violence, and protect all Syrian civilians, including humanitarians such as the White Helmets, in areas formerly part of the southwest de-escalation zone and throughout Syria. "
Britain said the operation was possible to the joint diplomatic efforts, hailing the efforts of the White Helmets volunteers to save lives in opposition areas.
Jeremy Hunt, U.K's foreign secretary, called the successful evacuation "fantastic news," and thanked Israel and Jordan in a tweet for action quickly following the request. The White Helmets, he said, "are the bravest of the brave and in a desperate situation."
The members of the White Helmets and their families had been stranded along with the Israeli -occupied Golan Heights following the Syrian government offensive in southwestern Syria which began in June.
Raed Saleh, head of the White Helmets, also known as the Syrian Civil Defense, said a number of volunteers and their families were evacuated from a dangerous ,
This was the first Israeli intervention in Syria's lengthy civil war, now in its eighth year. Syrian 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
The White Helmets have enjoyed backing and received finance and training from the United States and other Western nations for years . Because of their work in opposition areas, they were considered to be public service providers of the Syrian government.
and services are non-existent. Their Syrian government, and Russia, have called the White Helmets, their facilities were targeted, and their volunteers hit in what they know as "double taps"
"Terrorists," accused "agents" for foreign powers, and "cooperating with radical insurgent groups". Both Moscow and Damascus have accused the White Helmets of Staging Rescue and Chemical Attacks on Blame on the Government.
On Sunday, Syrian state media kept up the campaign against the group, pointing out that Israel facilitated the evacuation, citing it evidence that the group was collaborating with an enemy power. Syrian state TV al-Ikhbariya called the evacuation to "scandal." 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 " Foreigners are pulling their agents out of the battlefield "because of the Syrian military victories that have" aggression "against Syria.
In a quick offensive, Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air forces, have been advancing from the The Jordanian Border and the Golan Heights, Occupied by Israel in 1967. They first seize the area with Jordan, squeezing the opposition in the center and progressively chipping away at the rebels. held for years. For the first time since the war began in 2011, government forces regained positions along the disengagement line following a cease-fire deal with Israel in 1974.
This left the rebels and the White Helmets besieged by the government from one side, the
Surrender deals were reached with the armed forces, where the opposition still holds sway. But one civil defense official, refusing to be identified by name for his safety, said the President of the United States of America (1965-1993) The Associated Press was first reported on Friday. Several hundred Syrian civil defense workers and their families from the United States of America. (19659024) Evacuation plans were accelerated after last week's summit in Brussels.
The evacuees are (19659026) The Jordanian Foreign Ministry's spokesman, Mohammed al-Kayed, said the Syrians would remain in Jordan for three months. Safadi, Jordan's foreign minister, said in a tweet that his government approved the evacuation after a pledge from Britain, Germany and Canada that the evacuees will be resettled in three months.
It is not clear if the White Helmets who have been previously
Since the offensive began, Jordan said it would not open its borders to the newly displaced Syrians. Jordan hosts at least 650,000 registered Syrian refugees, according to the U.N., but Amman says a similar number of undocumented Syrians are also in the kingdom. Some 300,000 have been displaced by the fighting,
Aron Lund, a Syria expert with the Century Foundation, said after the international community funding and promoting the White helmets for years, the evacuation should not be a surprise
"It seems like a simple moral math to me that when uprising fails, they should try to get their guys out alive, with their families , He told AP in an email. "
" All sides have been helped, they have been helped to get irreconcilable out of the equation and reduce the amount of killing and destruction.
Separately Sunday, al-Ikhbariya TV quoted from the Israeli airstrike. "
Separately Sunday, al-Ikhbariya TV quoted a military official as saying that a military post in the town of Masyaf in Hama province was hit by an Israeli airstrike.
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Associated Press Writer Sarah El Deeb reported this story in Beirut and AP Writer Aron Heller reported from Jerusalem. AP Writers Fares Akram and Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.
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