Muhammed Khoudaier, Idlib , Baladi News
Syrian and Russian media launched a massive campaign to blacken and distort the image of civil defense teams or what are known as "White Helmets", claiming that they receive a joint funding from "Al-Nusra Front" and "the United States". They went further saying that "Civil Defense Teams" are an American formation headed by the former British solider "James Law".
Ahmed Yazaji, director of civil defense in the city of Jisr al-Shughur said that Syrian and Russian media are carrying out such propaganda against civil defense because it's the first successful voluntary institution on Syrian lands as well as being a neutral human institution that does not follow any policy or affiliates to any military faction.
"Civil defense originated from the womb of suffering and among the rubble, the difficult circumstances did not prevent them from standing by the unarmed Syrians who are abandoned by all nations. Therefore, the Syrian regime and its Russian ally are falsifying facts and accusing us of being affiliated with " Al-Qaeda " to legitimize bombing the civil defense centers across Syria', Al-Yazaji added in interview with Baladi News.
In the same context, the Syrian journalist Muhammed Muhammed said: "scenes of rescuing children out of the rubble by civil defense teams caused a state of outrage among Syrian and Russian media, and they were greatly angered by the insistence of "white helmets" to work for long hours after each massacre in order to pull out the bodies of martyrs and rescue the survivors.
These rescue operations have shaken Assad and his allies to their foundations, since they document their crimes against innocent civilians in Syria. As in the case of one-year-old child, Ahemd Rajab, who was Miraculously rescued by civil defense teams , after spending 24 hours under the rubble of Al-Quds hospital in Aleppo .
The images published by international media shwoing the courage of white helmets during the rescuing operation of five-month infant, Ziad Ghajar, who had been rescued after a massacre committed by the regime warplanes on Al-Sukari neighborhood, didn't appeal to the Russian and Syrian regime media".
"They were shocked by the scenes of civil defense men carrying five bodies of their fellow white helmets who were killed by Russian and Syrian warplanes during a raid targeted their center as if they were saying: you killed five of us, but we will follow suit of our martyrs and continue to help all the innocents you target under the pretext of fighting terrorism", he added.
There were no such "Civil Defense" teams in the rebel-held areas before, and most of the rescue operations were individual attempts, but today they work in the liberated areas with a different methodology from other rescue teams in the neighboring countries and the world. Most of the times, they themselves fell dead while pulling out the bodies of the victims due to the shelling 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."