[ad_1]
JERUSALEM / AMMAN (Reuters) – Hundreds of Syrian "White Helmet" rescue workers and their families fled advancing government forces and slipped over the border to the Israeli soldiers and Western powers, officials said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a brief video statement on Sunday that he had helped the evacuation at the request of US President Donald Trump and other leaders – and there had been fears that the workers' lives were at risk.
The group, known officially as Syria Civil Defense, Damascus and its allies.
Its members, known for their white helmets, say they are neutral. But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his backers, including Russia, have dismissed Western-sponsored propaganda tools and proxies of Islamist-led insurgents.
A Jordanian government source said 422 people were brought from Syria, over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights frontier and into Jordan, down from a figure of 800 Amman.
The evacuees will be kept in a "closed" location in Jordan and resettled in Britain, Germany and Canada within three months, the source said.
A second non-Jordanian source familiar with the agreement said the original plan had been to evacuate 800 people, but only 422 made it out of operations and the expansion of Islamic State in the area.
Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi was quoted in a foreign ministry statement. Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (19659002) Syria and its Russian allies have launched an offensive we are rebelling in the sensitive southwestern border zone.
'FANTASTIC NEWS'
Netanyahu said Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and others had recently been asked for help in extracting the White Helmets. "The lives of these people, who have saved lives, were now in danger. I also authorize their transfer via Israel to other countries to an important humanitarian gesture, "Netanyahu said.
Trump did not mention the operation during a series of tweets on Sunday.
The US State Department said in a statement that it The United Nations, the UNHCR, thanked the Syrian Civilians for their commitment to the operation of the Syrian civilians.
422 Syrians who were seeking asylum in Canada, Germany and Britain at the request of these countries. The U.N. refugee body praised Jordan's move to give them temporary sanctuary. [L5N1UI0MC]
"While in Jordan, UNHCR in close collaboration with the authorities," the statement said.
Britain hailed the evacuation, saying it and other allies had asked it.
"Fantastic news that we – UK and friends – have secured evacuation of White Helmets and their families – thank you Israel and Jordan for acting so quickly on our request," tweeted British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt
German weekly magazine Bild, which broke news of the evacuation and published evidence of the use of Syrian Arabs across Golan, said 50 of them would be granted asylum by Berlin.
"Humanity dictates that many of these brave first-aiders should now find protection and refuge, some of them in Germany, "it quoted German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas as saying.
A spokesperson for the German Interior Ministry said Berlin woul take in eight White Helmets plus their families.
A Canadian Foreign Ministry statement on Saturday said the White Helmets "have witnessed vicious atrocities committed by the Assad regime and its backers". It added: "We feel a deep moral responsibility to these brave and selfless people."
Russia's embassy in the Netherlands welcomed the White Helmets' departure. "Definitely there will be more chances of new so-called #CW (chemical weapon) attacks in Syria after forced evacuation by the West collective of the notorious #WhiteHelmets," it tweeted.
Damascus and its allies have accused rebels and their supporters of staging chemical attacks in an attempt to frame the government.
[ad_2]
Source link
