Two Syrian rescue workers awarded Gandhi Peace Prize

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Two Syrian rescue workers were awarded the Gandhi Peace Prize by the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace, in recognition of the efforts made by the medical sector in opposition-held areas.

Maysoon al-Masry, a volunteer in the Syrian Civil Defense agency, known as the White Helmets, and Zahir Sahloul, a Syrian doctor from MedGlobal, have been in rescuing and relief work for years rescuing thousands of lives along with their fellows.

A ceremony is scheduled to award the prize in the United States on December 12.

Maysoon Al-Masri was one of the first volunteers in the Syrian Civil Defense in Daraa, working for years proving services in the women’s center. She was later displaced in 2018 after the Syrian regime gained more territory and currently lives in Canada.

Al-Masry said on the official website of the White Helmets, “I extend my sincere thanks to the Peace Society for granting me this great honor. My feelings of pride are indescribable. Being a civil defense volunteer is the best and most important work I had done, especially in alleviating the suffering of civilians in Syria in a practical and realistic manner. The Gandhi Peace Prize and other awards given to the Civil Defense over the past years are the best response to the regime’s accusations of terrorism. These awards will help motivate the work and resilience despite the dangerous conditions faced by volunteers.”

Al-Masry emphasized that the Civil Defense is a humanitarian organization that emerged from suffering and that made many sacrifices to achieve its humanitarian goals and will continue to despite the challenges, its slogan will remain, “Whoever saves a life, has saved all mankind”.

According to The Economist, approximately one in six Syrian Defence workers have been killed or badly wounded, many by Russian and Syrian airstrikes on the same site as they search for bodies.

The nine-year-old war has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands and forced 13 million people from their homes, half of whom have left their shattered homeland.

Zaman A Wasl