Israel rescues Syrian volunteers stranded in border area

The Israeli military says it has rescued members of a Syrian volunteer civil organization from the volatile border area on the Golan Heights and evacuated them to a third country.

Sunday’s announcement marks the first such Israeli intervention in Syria’s civil war. The military says the “exceptional humanitarian gesture” was done at the request of the United States and its European allies.

The military says it was due to “an immediate threat to (Syrians’) lives.”

Israeli media say some 800 members of the Syrian rescue organization known as White Helmets and their families were evacuated overnight. The reports say they were transferred to Jordan and would travel on from there to Britain, Germany and Canada.

The military says this doesn’t reflect a change to its non-intervention policy in Syria’s war.