White Helmets rescuer takes an infant away from scene of Russia-regime attacks in northwest Syria, May 2019

Officials of Syria’s White Helmets civil defense have used a mission to the US to warn of more Russian and Assad regime assaults.

White Helmets head Raed Saleh met American legislators and accepted an award at the US Holocaust Museum. On Wednesday, he appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Saleh explained how Russia is continuing its four-year disinformation campaign to discredit the rescuers. In part, the propaganda is to discredit any group associated with the Syrian opposition, but it also has a military motive: by undermining the legitimacy of civil defense as well as bombing their headquarters and medical facilities, Russia and the regime have hoped to break civilians’ faith that they can be saved or their bodies retrieved during an all-out assault.

“The situation on the ground is very dire,” Saleh told reporters. “There is significant suffering in civilian areas, heavy shelling targeting civilian areas, targeted by the Russians.”

Those tactics have been used in offensives to overrun opposition areas such as east Aleppo city and the East Ghouta area near Damascus. They have been renewed in recent weeks, as Russia threatens to break its own demilitarized zone — declared with Turkey last September — and enable the regime to reoccupy the last major opposition territory, in northwest Syria.

Syria Daily, April 24: Assad Regime and Russia Renew Chemical Attacks Disinformation

The regime has escalated shelling on Idlib and northern Hama Provinces since mid-February, and Russia has carried out airstrikes on the pretext of attacking “terrorists”. More than 150 people have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in the area of more than 3 million people — about 20% of Syria’s remaining population.

Through officials such as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Russia has warned that it might green-light the offensive against at least part of the area. So far, however, it has held back — probably because of Turkey, which has had forces along rebels in the northwest since August 2016.

Syria Daily, May 1: Fears of Russia-Regime Offensive as Bombardment Escalates in Northwest

“Courageous Work” Amid Latest Attacks

After Saleh’s appearance, the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Robert Menendez of New Jersey noted that the White Helmets’ 3,000 volunteers has “saved almost 100,000 lives” doing “courageous work on the ground in Syria, while being targeted by Russia”.

The US State Department combined a tribute to the rescuers with concern over the situation in northwest Syria. Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said:

Russia and the regime…blatantly continue to militarily target humanitarians such as White Helmets volunteers as they attempt to save victims in many of these affected communities.

The violence must end. We call on all parties, including Russia and the Syrian regime, to abide by their commitments to avoid large scale military offensives, return to a de-escalation of violence in the area, and allow for unhindered humanitarian access to address the humanitarian disaster created by the ongoing violence.

The Senate committee also took testimony from humanitarian organizations and the UN’s Goodwill Ambassador, actor and director Ben Stiller, about the ongoing threat from bombing and ground assaults. David Miliband, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, noted about 3,500 people had been displaced “in the last 36 hours” and 15 air raids and attacks had taken place “in the last 24 hours….Bombing raids by Syria and Russia continue to cause misery.”

The White Helmets said another eight civilians were killed on Wednesday, the sixth consecutive day of shelling and airstrikes.

US “Stands With Syrian People” — But How?

Committee chairman James Risch of Idaho declared, “We remain committed to doing what we can to save lives, while acknowledging that humanitarian assistance is just a Band-Aid. A political solution is long overdue. The United States stands with the Syrian people.”

But Risch, a Republican, did not explain how his assertion was consistent with a Trump Administration, and its predecessor under Barack Obama, that has largely given way in the eight-year conflict to Russia and its backing of the Assad regime.

The US has mainly focused on the fight against the Islamic State, and maintaining a barrier to Iran, while the Russian-enabled regime has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions while regaining part of Syria.

In December, Donald Trump announced that he was withdrawing all US personnel from Syria, including those supporting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that pushed ISIS out of cities, towns, and villages. The Pentagon and senior US officials have pushed back to ensure that most American personnel remain alongside the SDF and in a base at Tanf in eastern Syria on the Iraq border.

Syria Daily, March 8: US Military Pushes Back Trump — No Date for Withdrawal