Reader’s Digest
110 july 2019
go wrong. The regime’s military
could catch wind of the top-secret
rescue, charge the border and attack.
Assad could call for an airstrike.
Syrian citizens living nearby could
seize the opportunity to cross the
border when it opened, prompting
a military response from the Israelis.
The Mayday Rescue office was
crowded with envoys, ambassadors,
aid workers and UN refugee staff,
all awaiting word of the rescue. The
room was powered by cigarettes,
coffee and anxiety.
“We lost touch with Habib and
Mahameed at some points, so
the stress escalated,” says Nadera
Al-Sukkar of Mayday Rescue. “We also
lost contact with the White Helmets.
Morale was collapsing. All of us were
worried that it’s not going to happen,
that it’s too complicated, too difficult.”
The Israeli Defence Force (IDF)
had coordinated the time and place
where the White Helmets would
come across. Just before sundown,
they deployed in full battle gear,
machine guns shouldered. They set
up a table where each evacuee would
be identified.
Then shortly after 9 p.m. on
21 July, the IDF gave the order to
open the gate between Syria and
Israel. As it cranked slowly to a
position that exposed the Syrian hills,
everyone stared into the dark. Then
the IDF’s Major Efi Ribner called
the White Helmets to come forward
as families—one group at a time.If people were on their own, they
were to approach as individuals. The
control was tight.
In Amman, those anxiously waiting
for word, got the call—an hour later
than anticipated. It was Habib. The
White Helmets had started to cross.
“As the night progressed, it became
clear—this just might work,” says
Wettlaufer. “But until we found out
that the last person was safe, I didn’t
relax for a second. No one in that
operation centre did.”T
he night was eerily quiet, except
for gunfire in the distance.
The White Helmets moved
towards the gate.
Habib and Mahameed were the
first familiar faces the White Helmets
saw. “When the first family crossed, it
was an exceptional moment,” Habib
recalls, “I had mixed feelings—
sadness because this family was
forced to leave their homeland but
happy because we rescued them.”
The families were in miserable
condition—some sick, some barefoot.
A pregnant woman had broken her
leg, one mother asked if Habib could
get milk for her child. A man begged
Habib to negotiate safe passage for
his wife and children, left behind.
There was a newborn baby, delivered
two days earlier.
The rescued families rushed to
Mahameed, embracing him, asking
questions, seeking answers. He
hugged them back but discouraged