White Is Not the Colour of Surrender: The Story of Syria’s White Helmets

In the spring of 2011 peaceful protests demanding liberty by the Syrian people were met with swift and wicked retaliation by their dictator leader. President al-Assad wasted no time in declaring full scale war on his people, starting a systematic bombing campaign that would last nearly 14 years and raze Syria to the ground. The people, forsaken by their own government and the outside world, were left in survival mode - hungry, homeless and routinely massacred. When the bombs rained down, a group of men, regular people from all walks of life, ran to the mountains of destruction to rescue the victims trapped in the rubble. They made it their new vocation to save the lives Assad wanted dead. Garnering the nickname the White Helmets for their white hard hats, these humanitarian first responders would quickly find themselves in the crosshairs of Assad’s war, becoming his dedicated bullseye. They had a choice. They could flee for their own safety or stay and help their fellow civilians. Making the ultimate sacrifice, they stayed. Nearly 400 White Helmets volunteers have lost their lives in their bid to help the innocent. To date, they have saved upwards of 130,000 lives....and counting.