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Raed al-Saleh and the White Helmets: Rescuing Syria's Civilians from the Rubble
When a barrel bomb fell, the White Helmets ran toward it. Over ten years, they pulled more than 115,000 people from rubble. Raed al-Saleh led them.
Confirmed2 chapters2013-01-01— 2024-12-31
From Aleppo Province, the White Helmets became the world's most documented civilian rescue operation — and a target of disinformation campaigns by the Assad government and Russia.
01
Chapter 01custom01 / 02
The Birth of the White Helmets: When the Bombs Started Falling on Civilians
In late 2012 and into 2013, the Assad government escalated its tactics against opposition-held areas in a decisive way: it began using barrel bombs — oil drums, water heaters, gas cylinders, and improvised containers packed with explosives and scrap metal and dropped from helicopters. Because helicopters fly low and cannot aim precisely, barrel bombs fell on neighborhoods, markets, hospitals, schools, and homes indiscriminately.
International humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas. Barrel bombs cannot be aimed — they are inherently indiscriminate. Their use against populated civilian areas constitutes a war crime under any reading of international law. The Assad government used them continuously from 2012 through 2019, killing tens of thousands of civilians.
When a barrel bomb fell, there was no fire department, no government emergency services, no organized rescue infrastructure in opposition-held areas. The opposition-held cities and towns were cut off from the Syrian state. They had no government services. The people who lived there were on their own.
James Le Mesurier, a British former military officer working for a British development organization in Turkey, recognized the gap. He began training Syrian civilians as search and rescue volunteers — teaching basic techniques for locating and extracting people from collapsed buildings without heavy equipment. The first training sessions happened in Turkey in late 2012 and early 2013.
The volunteers who were trained began operating in Syria. The organization became known as Syria Civil Defence — and internationally as the White Helmets, for the distinctive white helmets they wore while working. Raed al-Saleh joined early and rose to lead the organization.
By 2014–2015, the White Helmets had thousands of volunteers operating in Aleppo, Idlib, Homs, Hama, and Daraa provinces. Each local team maintained vehicles (modified pickup trucks and ambulances), hand tools for debris removal, medical supplies, and communications. They maintained a 24/7 call center. When a strike was reported, they dispatched the nearest team.
International humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas. Barrel bombs cannot be aimed — they are inherently indiscriminate. Their use against populated civilian areas constitutes a war crime under any reading of international law. The Assad government used them continuously from 2012 through 2019, killing tens of thousands of civilians.
When a barrel bomb fell, there was no fire department, no government emergency services, no organized rescue infrastructure in opposition-held areas. The opposition-held cities and towns were cut off from the Syrian state. They had no government services. The people who lived there were on their own.
James Le Mesurier, a British former military officer working for a British development organization in Turkey, recognized the gap. He began training Syrian civilians as search and rescue volunteers — teaching basic techniques for locating and extracting people from collapsed buildings without heavy equipment. The first training sessions happened in Turkey in late 2012 and early 2013.
The volunteers who were trained began operating in Syria. The organization became known as Syria Civil Defence — and internationally as the White Helmets, for the distinctive white helmets they wore while working. Raed al-Saleh joined early and rose to lead the organization.
By 2014–2015, the White Helmets had thousands of volunteers operating in Aleppo, Idlib, Homs, Hama, and Daraa provinces. Each local team maintained vehicles (modified pickup trucks and ambulances), hand tools for debris removal, medical supplies, and communications. They maintained a 24/7 call center. When a strike was reported, they dispatched the nearest team.
Confirmed(85%)Sensitivity: medium
02
Chapter 02custom02 / 02
The Disinformation War Against the White Helmets — and Their Legacy
As the White Helmets became one of the most prominent symbols of Syria's civilian suffering — their footage broadcast worldwide, their members winning international awards — the Assad government and its Russian and Iranian backers launched a systematic disinformation campaign against them.
The campaign had multiple elements:
— Claiming the White Helmets were a front organization for Western intelligence services or for jihadist groups
— Producing fabricated footage purporting to show White Helmets 'faking' rescues
— Circulating conspiracy theories about individual members
— Claiming the White Helmets only operated in 'terrorist-controlled' areas (true — they operated where there were civilians under attack, which happened to be opposition-controlled areas) as evidence they were terrorists
These claims were amplified by Russian state media (RT, Sputnik), pro-Assad social media networks, and sympathetic voices in Western media and politics. They were systematically debunked by fact-checkers and independent investigators — but the volume and reach of the disinformation made it influential in certain political circles.
**The Ghouta chemical attack and the White Helmets:**
The White Helmets were among the first responders to the August 21, 2013 Ghouta sarin attack. Their footage — rescuers in gas masks, rows of dead children, victims in convulsions — was among the primary visual documentation of the attack that killed between 1,300 and 1,700 people. The footage was used by Western governments in their assessments attributing the attack to the Assad government.
**Raed al-Saleh at the UN Security Council:**
Al-Saleh testified before the UN Security Council on multiple occasions, calling for a no-fly zone over Syria and for the protection of civilians. In 2016 testimony, he described:
'Every day we respond to barrel bomb attacks, airstrikes, and chemical attacks. Every day we pull bodies from the rubble. We are volunteers. We are not soldiers. We signed up to save lives, not to be killed. But we are being targeted. Our centers have been bombed. Our rescuers have been killed. The world watches and does nothing.'
**The legacy:**
By the time Assad's government fell in December 2024, the White Helmets had performed over 115,000 rescues, lost more than 200 volunteers killed in the line of duty, and produced documentation of Syrian civilian suffering that became central to international understanding of the war. Raed al-Saleh continued to lead the organization as it transitioned to work in liberated Syria.
The campaign had multiple elements:
— Claiming the White Helmets were a front organization for Western intelligence services or for jihadist groups
— Producing fabricated footage purporting to show White Helmets 'faking' rescues
— Circulating conspiracy theories about individual members
— Claiming the White Helmets only operated in 'terrorist-controlled' areas (true — they operated where there were civilians under attack, which happened to be opposition-controlled areas) as evidence they were terrorists
These claims were amplified by Russian state media (RT, Sputnik), pro-Assad social media networks, and sympathetic voices in Western media and politics. They were systematically debunked by fact-checkers and independent investigators — but the volume and reach of the disinformation made it influential in certain political circles.
**The Ghouta chemical attack and the White Helmets:**
The White Helmets were among the first responders to the August 21, 2013 Ghouta sarin attack. Their footage — rescuers in gas masks, rows of dead children, victims in convulsions — was among the primary visual documentation of the attack that killed between 1,300 and 1,700 people. The footage was used by Western governments in their assessments attributing the attack to the Assad government.
**Raed al-Saleh at the UN Security Council:**
Al-Saleh testified before the UN Security Council on multiple occasions, calling for a no-fly zone over Syria and for the protection of civilians. In 2016 testimony, he described:
'Every day we respond to barrel bomb attacks, airstrikes, and chemical attacks. Every day we pull bodies from the rubble. We are volunteers. We are not soldiers. We signed up to save lives, not to be killed. But we are being targeted. Our centers have been bombed. Our rescuers have been killed. The world watches and does nothing.'
**The legacy:**
By the time Assad's government fell in December 2024, the White Helmets had performed over 115,000 rescues, lost more than 200 volunteers killed in the line of duty, and produced documentation of Syrian civilian suffering that became central to international understanding of the war. Raed al-Saleh continued to lead the organization as it transitioned to work in liberated Syria.
Confirmed(85%)Sensitivity: medium
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