After the violent earthquakes and their aftershocks that struck Turkey and Syria, in Idlib, a Syrian enclave in the hands of the rebellion, the hundreds of thousands of victims in the area can only count on the white helmets, long considered terrorists by Bashar Al-Assad.
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In Syria, on Wednesday February 8, there were more than 2,600 dead out of the collapsed buildings after the violent earthquakes and their aftershocks which struck Turkey and Syria. Many victims are still trapped under the rubble.
>> LIVE. Find here the latest information on the earthquake in Turkey and Syria
The enclave of Idlib, in the hands of the rebellion, is very hard hit: more than three million people live in this last pocket of resistance to Bashar Al-Assad. But since Monday’s earthquake, the region has been completely isolated: humanitarian aid has not arrived and the hundreds of thousands of victims in the area can only count on local rescuers: the white helmets.
Considered heroes by locals
Three thousand White Helmets rescuers have thus been deployed throughout the disaster areas of northwestern Syria and are helping the victims, trying to dig up the people still alive in the rubble. On a video, for example, we see two volunteers who dig with their bare hands in the rubble and manage to extract a little boy stuck in the ruins of his house. Eventually he was rescued, his face covered in dust. Behind the images, we hear the cries of joy of the inhabitants: the white helmets have long been considered heroes in this region of Idlib. Rescuers who work tirelessly in this enclave of the Syrian opposition.
The White Helmets are voluntary men and women, often without training, who come to the aid of the inhabitants, considered as terrorists by Bashar Al-Assad who regularly target them. More than 300 have been killed in bombings by the regime or its Russian ally over the past ten years.
“We are overwhelmed”
The White Helmets are largely financed by Westerners but are now calling for help: the money is no longer enough and they lack the arms and equipment to deal with this disaster. “Our teams are on all fronts, explains one of them, exhausted, his throat tight. Many families are still stuck under the rubble: we try to save them but we are overwhelmed.”
“We need help: the international community has to do something. It’s a disaster here, we need help…”
A white helmetat franceinfo
For now, the border post with Turkey, the last crossing point that connects Idlib to the rest of the world, is inaccessible due to the earthquake. In the northwest of Syria, humanitarian aid still does not arrive and the population is plunged into a veritable nightmare.
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