Abdul Aziz Al-Khalifa, Baladi News, Aleppo
Syrian and Russian warplanes are deliberately targeting civil defense centers in a number of Syrian cities, in order to prevent "White Helmets" as people call them, from performing their duties in rescuing civilians.
The war against Civil Defense personnel was not confined only to bombing, it rather marginalized their role similar to what the US authorities did a few days ago, when they prevented Director of the Syrian Civil Defense Ra'ed Al-Saleh from receiving the award of "Humanitarian Assistance" by the civil society organization called "Interaction", and preventing him as well from entering US territory although he has a visa valid till the end of 2016. The organization had decided earlier to award the prize to the Syrian civil defense, that saved the lives of about 40 thousand people since the beginning of the regime's war against the people of Syria.
Five personnel of the Syrian Civil Defense died on Tuesday in al-Atarib city in the western countryside of Aleppo, as a result of 6 strikes launched by Russian warplanes targeted their main center. It's worth noting here that Civil Defense personnel swung into action in the Syrian governorates following the shelling by regime forces on the rebel-held areas and the horrendous massacres against civilians.
There were no such "Civil Defense" teams in the rebel-held areas before, and most of the rescue operations were individual rescue attempts, but today they work in the liberated areas adopts a different methodology from other rescue teams in neighboring countries and the world. Most of the times, they themselves fell dead while removing the bodies of the victims of barrel bombs and mortars by the regime.
Muhammed Al-Haj Ali, one of the Civil Defense personnel in Hanano center in the city of Aleppo told Baladi News: "We have started search and rescue operations in 2013 with no equipment or specialized vehicles, and without experience or training. We have also started as volunteers."
"Several organizations have provided support and training for us till we advanced in search and rescue operations, firefighting and hospitalizing the wounded. The beginning of our job was only removing ramshackle buildings due to the lack of vehicles to transport the wounded," he added.
He went on saying: "Later, we were able to save the largest possible number of civilians, and as soon as we arrive in the disaster area, our first goal is to aid the wounded who are still alive, and then we start searching in the rubble looking for survivors."
Russia is breaching all the norms of war by deliberately targeting rescue workers, schools and hospitals in Syria, escalating the crisis by "adding gasoline on the fire" to intensify Syrians' misery.