White Helmets (Syrian civil war)
Volunteer civil defense organization / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The White Helmets (Arabic: الخوذ البيضاء ,القبعات البيضاء al-Ḫawdh al-bayḍāʾ / al-Qubaʿāt al-Bayḍāʾ), officially known as Syria Civil Defence[4] (SCD; Arabic: الدفاع المدني السوري ad-Difāʿ al-Madanī as-Sūrī), is a volunteer organisation that operates in parts of opposition-controlled Syria and in Turkey. Formed in 2014 during the Syrian Civil War, the majority of the volunteers' activity in Syria consists of medical evacuation, urban search and rescue in response to bombing, evacuation of civilians from danger areas, and essential service delivery. As of April 2018, the organisation said it had saved about 114,000 lives, and that 204 of its members had lost their lives while performing their duties. They assert their impartiality in the Syrian conflict.[5]
الدفاع المدني السوري | |
Abbreviation | SCD |
---|---|
Formation | 2014; 10 years ago (2014) |
Founder | James Le Mesurier[1][2][3] |
Purpose | Civil defense |
Region served | Syrian opposition-controlled areas |
Head | Raed Saleh, Abdulrahman Almawwas |
Volunteers | 3,000 (with monthly stipend) |
Website | syriacivildefence |
The organisation has been the target of a sustained disinformation campaign by supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian state-sponsored media organisations such as RT and Sputnik; the campaign has promoted false accusations connecting it with terrorist activities and other conspiracy theories.[lower-alpha 1]