Newborns in White Helmets families delay their departure — minister

AMMAN — Preparations are under way to pave the way for the remaining 50 Syrians who worked for the Syrian rebels’ civil defence agency, known as the White Helmets, to leave the Kingdom, the government said on Thursday.

“The number of White Helmets members who have already left the Kingdom is around 375 and the rest will leave soon,” Minister of State for Media Affairs Jumana Ghunaimat told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

“We are going ahead with arrangements with the countries that have pledged to host the Syrians who worked for the civil defence and what delayed the process is that some babies were born in Jordan and paperwork needed to be completed before they can leave to these countries,” the minister said.

In July, the rescue workers who had been operating in rebel-held areas fled advancing Russian-backed Syrian government troops and slipped over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights frontier and into Jordan, with the help of third parties. Jordan hosted those Syrians on a temporary basis for humanitarian reasons and upon a request by the UN.

Authorities allowed the UN to arrange their crossing into the country from Israel after receiving abiding pledges from the UK, Canada and Germany to be prepared to host them within three months.