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Profile: The White Helmets

The White Helmets

17/12/2016

BBC Radio 4 - Profile, The White Helmets

Mark Coles profiles rescue workers in Syria said to have saved thousands of lives.

Series of profiles of people who are currently making headlines. Mark Coles profiles rescue workers in Syria said to have saved thousands of lives.

Amid the carnage of civil war there is an organisation in Syria committed to saving lives. They are called Syria Civil Defence but they are better known as 'The White Helmets'. They have over 3000 members in rebel-held areas. When an air attack hits, they rush towards the scene to look for survivors trapped under collapsed buildings. To many, they are heroes. Others suspect a conspiracy and question whether video footage of the White Helmets at work is even real. Mark Coles tells the story of the White Helmets in the week when Aleppo was brought back under Syrian government control.

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