White Helmets (Syrian civil war)

The White Helmets (Arabic: الخوذ البيضاء ,القبعات البيضاء, romanized: al-Ḫawdh al-bayḍāʾ / al-Qubaʿāt al-Bayḍāʾ), officially known as Syrian Civil Defence (SCD; Arabic: الدفاع المدني السوري, romanized: ad-Difāʿ al-Madanī as-Sūrī), is a volunteer organisation that operated in Turkey and in the then-opposition-controlled parts of Syria before the fall of the Assad regime. Formed in 2014 during the Syrian Civil War, the majority of the volunteers' activity in Syria consisted of medical evacuation, urban search and rescue in response to bombing, evacuation of civilians from danger areas, and essential service delivery. As of April 2018, the organisation said it had saved about 114,000 lives, and that 204 of its members had lost their lives while performing their duties. They had asserted their impartiality in the Syrian conflict.

The organisation had been the target of a sustained disinformation campaign by supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian state-sponsored media organisations such as RT and Sputnik; the campaign promoted false accusations connecting it with terrorist activities, among other conspiracy theories.

In the aftermath of the Assad regime's collapse, the White Helmets played a pivotal role in the Sednaya Prison search-and-rescue efforts following its liberation by rebel forces.