Intel: White Helmets chief urges humanitarian aid for Syria’s Idlib

The head of Syria’s White Helmets rescue force has been making the rounds in Washington over the last week to spotlight the dire humanitarian crisis in Idlib — and the need to ensure aid makes its way to some million displaced people in the embattled province. White Helmets chief Raed Saleh capped his week in Washington off by meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun on Monday to discuss Idlib.

“Deputy Secretary Biegun commended the Syria Civil Defense and its courageous team of first responders, known as the White Helmets, for providing life-saving assistance to the victims of aerial bombardments and mortar attacks on homes, schools and hospitals perpetrated by the [Bashar al-Assad] regime and its allies,” State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

Ortagus noted the meeting's participants “agreed that the international community must continue to ensure the protection of civilians, religious and ethnic minorities and other innocent victims of the Assad regime’s brutality.”

Saleh also met with US Syria envoy James Jeffrey and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Levant Affairs Joel Rayburn. He also stopped by an exhibition at the Turkish Embassy of photographs of White Helmets rescue operations.