Saturday, March 4, 2017
Friday, March 3, 2017
US Senate calls on British spy Christopher Steele to give evidence on explosive Trump-Russia dossier
Exclusive: Republicans and Democrats in Congress keen to facilitate discreet meetings in the UK or on neutral territory, as pressure grows on President
The Independent
Link
The Independent
Link
Christopher Steele, the former MI6 spy who prepared the explosive Trump report, has been approached about testifying before the US Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the new President’s alleged links with Russia, The Independent can reveal.
Mr Steele’s friends say it is currently unlikely he would be willing to travel to the US. But it is understood Democrats – as well as some Republicans – in Congress are prepared to facilitate discreet initial meetings in the UK or on other neutral territory.
John McCain, the former Republican presidential candidate, and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent an intermediary to London in November last year to collect Mr Steele’s dossier, which was subsequently passed personally by the Senator to FBI director James Comey.
And Mr Steele had, while carrying out his Trump inquiry, himself liaised for regular periods with the bureau.
Mr Trump has personally attacked Mr Steele, declaring the report on the Kremlin connection by the former MI6 officer as a fabricated work, put together by a “failed spy”.
In reality, Mr Steele was, and continues to be, held in high regard by British security and intelligence services as well as the American security officials who worked with him in the past.
It emerged this week that the FBI had, at one stage, proposed to pay him to continue his investigation into Mr Trump and his associates.
But that deal fell through and Mr Steele ultimately continued to work without pay because he was so worried by what he was discovering.
Mr Steele has not yet responded to requests to meet with Senate officials – described as informal at this stage – for testimony, which have come over the last fortnight. But friends say he may be willing to speak about his investigation to senators and US officials if certain security conditions are met.
The development comes amid fresh revelations of the Trump administration’s interaction with the Russians. It has emerged that Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General, was in contact with Moscow’s ambassador to the US during the election campaign.
Mr Trump’s national security adviser, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, was forced to resign after details of similar communications surfaced last month.
It has also emerged that in the last days of Barack Obama’s presidency, officials were so worried that the incoming Trump administration would try to suppress or destroy incriminating material that they passed on information to the intelligence agencies and senior figures in Congress.
There is now similar concern that the Trump White House is trying to sabotage the Russia investigations. Democrats have asked for an inquiry into attempts by White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, to get the FBI to dismiss media reports about members of Mr Trump’s coterie contacting Russian officials.
The drive to contact Mr Steele and others, according to those familiar with the issue, is to try and ensure that as much information as possible is gathered by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The committee is carrying out its own investigation, separate from one being conducted by the FBI, on the Russian links and attempts by the Kremlin to interfere in the American political process. There will, however, be mutual sharing of relevant material.
The Washington Post this week reported the plan by the FBI to pay Mr Steele, who was one of MI6’s foremost Russia specialists, to continue his inquiries.
The Independent understands that the offer came after the discovery of a campaign of cyber hacking on state electoral systems in September, which led to a public charge against Moscow by the Obama administration.
Mr Steele became involved in the Trump investigation through the Washington-based firm Fusion GPS, which had been hired by Republican opponents of Mr Trump in September 2015.
In June 2016, Mr Steele joined up with the team. In July, Mr Trump won the Republican nomination and the Democrats became new employers of Mr Steele and Fusion GPS. With that contract due to come to an end with the election, the FBI stepped in with its offer of funding.
Vice President Mike Pence whispers in the President’s ear (Getty)
Mr Steele has been regularly supplying information to the FBI. In June last year, for instance, he produced a memo which went to the bureau stating that Mr Trump’s campaign team had agreed to a Russian request to dilute attention on Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.
Four days later Mr Trump stated that he would recognise Moscow’s annexation of Crimea: officials involved in his campaign having already asked the Republican party’s election platform to remove a pledge for military assistance to the Ukrainian government against separatist rebels in the east of the country.
Mr Steele claimed the Trump campaign was taking this path because it was aware that the Russians were hacking Democratic Party emails. The same day that Mr Trump spoke about Crimea, he called on the Kremlin to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails.
However, Mr Steele became increasingly frustrated that the FBI was failing to take action on the intelligence from others as well as him.
He came to believe there was a cover-up, that a cabal within the bureau blocked a thorough inquiry into Mr Trump, focusing instead on the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. The MI6 officer’s passing of information to the FBI ceased in December last year.
Thursday, March 2, 2017
‘The fuse is lit’: Dan Rather says Trump-Russia scandal is about to go off like a bomb
Raw Story
Veteran CBS News anchor Dan Rather wrote on Facebook Thursday that the scandal over Pres. Donald Trump’s personal and political connections to the Russian government and those of his aides is like a bomb with a lit fuse.
“Every once in a while in Washington, the fuse is lit for what seems to be a big scandal,” said Rather. “Much more rarely does that fuse lead to an explosion of the magnitude we are seeing with Russia and the new Administration, and frankly the Republicans in Congress.”
With revelations that Attorney Gen. Jeff Sessions apparently perjured himself regarding contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, another key Trump appointee appears to be on the verge of going down in flames like national security adviser Gen. Mike Flynn.
Flynn resigned last month after wiretaps on Kislyak’s phone revealed that he and Flynn had multiple conversations prior to the president’s inauguration that Flynn later lied about to the public and to Vice President Mike Pence.
“Sessions is but the latest person close to President Trump who seems to be ensnared in a story that is more worthy of Hollywood melodrama than the reality of the governance of our country. Democrats are calling for Sessions to resign, and this story could move very quickly,” said Rather on Facebook.
He continued, “We are well past the time for any political niceties or benefits of the doubt. We need an independent and thorough investigation of Russia’s meddling in our democracy and its ties to the President and his allies. We don’t know what we don’t know.”
“The press is doing an admirable job,” he wrote. “But there is only so much it can do without such things as subpoena powers. Let’s just make this clear. This is about a foreign and hostile power trying to influence our election while being in contact with close aides to the presidential campaign that the Kremlin wanted to win. Furthermore, there are serious questions about Mr Trump’s longstanding ties to Russian money and influence peddlers. We don’t know where this might go, but it isn’t going away.”
Welcome to the extremists. There are growing numbers of us
Under legally murky guidance, many of us would be considered suspicious. That's helpful if you want to stifle debate on Israel-Palestine
By David Hearst
Link
By David Hearst
Link
According to Safe Campus Communities, a website created by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), I could be regarded as an extremist.
According to a website created by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), I could be regarded as an extremist
I have expressed “vocal support for Palestine”. I am opposed not just to “Israeli settlements in Gaza”, but all construction beyond the Green Line of 4 June 1967. I have also frequently “criticised (Western)” wars in the Middle East and I am “opposed to Prevent” on the grounds that it is not preventing home-grown jihadis.
I think Israel is running a form of apartheid and not just in the occupied West Bank. The Jewish state is plainly and demonstrably a functioning democracy for its Jewish citizens alone.
These views “may be regarded” as extremist, although Safe Campus Communities kindly notes, they are not illegal. Well might they add that rider. Government attempts to concoct a definition of "non-violent extremism”, which is legally secure, have foundered.
It's not as if they have not had time to think about it.
Where is the counter-extremism bill?
It will shortly be two years since the government first announced a counter-extremism bill in May 2015. Six months after that, they published a strategy. The bill has since been in two Queens speeches and still nothing has appeared.
Harriet Harman MP, chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, has now written to the Home Secretary Amber Rudd to ask what is happening. There are good reasons for the government’s reticence to legislate an issue they define as key.
Harman’s own committee found little evidence to support the government assumption that there is an escalator between religious conservatism and violent jihadism. If extremism denies "mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs”, who is being extremist when a faith has elements of misogyny and homophobia, the committee’s report asked.
Should this new legislation apply just to Muslims only, in which case it would be discriminatory and would fall foul of freedom of religious expression, or should it apply to all faiths in which case the new legislation would operate indiscriminately. Synagogues could be as much in the firing line as mosques.
In the absence of legal definition and clarity, Prevent operates with an arsenal of weaponised vagueness
In the absence of legal definition and clarity, Prevent - a statutory duty to carry out and presumably a criminal offence to ignore - operates with an arsenal of weaponised vagueness.
The presentation on Safe Campus Communities is full of woulds, coulds and question marks. The intellectual cotton wool padding this brief, however, is anything but soft.
Freedom of pre-approved speech
This week university campuses around the world are conducting debates around the theme of Israeli apartheid. At least three events in Britain have now been cancelled or postponed. The University of Central Lancashire (UClan) cancelled an event organised by a Friends of Palestine Society because of concerns it would not be “balanced”.
Elsewhere venues, booked months in advance, are cancelled at the last minute; extra security is demanded; speeches are monitored and, in some cases, have to be pre-approved.
Does this “risk assessment and management” apply to all university debate? Plainly not. If Moazzam Begg, the former Guantanamo detainee and human rights campaigner, who is now categorised as a “high-risk speaker” is invited on campus to speak to an Amnesty society, there are no problems. If, however, he is invited to give essentially the same talk to an Islamic society, all hell breaks loose.
Clearly and palpably a darker purpose is being served here. It has nothing to do with British values, violent jihadi extremism, or the Islamic State (IS) group. It has everything to do with shutting down debate about Israel and Palestine at a particularly sensitive moment when even the rhetoric around the existence of a Palestinian state is being jettisoned.
Clearly, if the two-state solution is abandoned, that leaves one state. That is one in which Palestinians, whether under occupation, with the status of Jerusalem resident or full citizens are discriminated against in law. Israel’s attempts to legitimise this reality is what the battle on the campuses is all about.
Gerald Kaufman, who died recently, was another of this campaign’s victims. A Zionist turned ferocious critic of Israel, Kaufman was villified for a speech in which he compared the Israeli actions in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead to those of the Nazis in Poland. Kaufman’s grandmother was shot dead in her bed in her home town of Staszow by a German soldier.
Who will stand up now?
Israeli apartheid was first seriously examined in a British newspaper by an award-winning journalist and former colleague, Chris McGreal, who had been a correspondent in Johannesburg for ten years and in Jerusalem for four. His forensic analysis written in 2006 bears re-reading today.
Two Guardian articles produced an immediate reaction. Camera, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting, referred McGreal to the Press Complaints Commission in a complaint that totalled 35,000 words, twice the length of the original articles. In its complaint, Camera attempted to deny the undeniable - that there was a policy of maintaining the demographic balance of Jerusalem. It was a brazen denial of reality.
I once asked a serving Israeli ambassador whom he thought were the twin enemies of Israel. 'The BBC and the Guardian,' he shot back without a trace of irony
Camera’s complaint could not help being self-revelatory. Their real beef with the analogy was that McGreal had “denied the historic rights of the Jewish People” and had shown “contempt for Zionism”. Happily - but this was in 2006 - the PCC stood up to this barrage and threw out every point of their complaint. So did Alan Rusbridger, then editor of the Guardian.
Into his office marched Henry Grunwald, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and Gerald Ronson, chairman of the Community Security Trust. Ronson did not take his coat off, and according to Rusbridger’s recollection said: "'I’ve always said opinions are like arseholes, everyone’s got one’, and then he effectively said ‘I’m in favour of free speech but there is a line which can’t be crossed and, as far as I’m concerned, you’ve crossed it, and you must stop this’". Ronson accused the Guardian of being responsible for anti-Semitic attacks, a claim Rusbridger refused to accept.
Both the PCC and the Guardian stood their ground. There was no doubt in McGreal’s mind what this exercise was about. Nothing to do with correcting inaccurate reporting, and everything to do with bullying and intimidation. That was in 2006. Would the same organisations stand their ground today? Somehow I doubt it. Look at what has happened to the BBC’s coverage of the conflict.
I once asked a serving Israeli ambassador whom he thought were the twin enemies of Israel. I expected him to say Hamas and Hezbollah. “The BBC and the Guardian,” he shot back without a trace of irony. The Israeli embassy has been nothing if not true to its word since then.
I would love to say that these tactics will not work. The sadness today is I am no longer so sure.
- David Hearst is editor-in-chief of Middle East Eye. He was chief foreign leader writer of The Guardian, former Associate Foreign Editor, European Editor, Moscow Bureau Chief, European Correspondent and Ireland Correspondent. He joined The Guardian from The Scotsman, where he was education correspondent.
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
صفاقة الإمبريالية… أمريكية أكانت أم روسية
جلبير الأشقر
Link
يذكّرنا نمطٌ من الأنماط المميّزة للإمبريالية في عصرنا بذلك الزجّاج الذي مثّله تشارلي تشابلن في إحدى روائعه السينمائية الصامتة، فيلم «الولد» أو «الصبي» (The Kid)، وهو زجّاج يستخدم صبياً مكلّفاً برمي الحجارة على نوافذ المنازل لكسر زجاجها بحيث يخلق للزجّاج فُرَصاً لكسب الرزق.
فلمّا قامت الولايات المتحدة سنة 1991 بإرجاع العراق إلى العصر الحجري، حسب التعبير الذي ورد آنذاك في تقرير موفد مجلس الأمن الدولي، وذلك بتحطيم بنيته التحتية على أوسع نطاق، كان أصحاب شركات المقاولة والبناء الأمريكية يفركون أياديهم تحسباً لنيل شركاتهم القسط الأكبر من سوق إعادة بناء العراق المدمَّر. وفي انتظار استكمال شروط تلك العملية، استفادت الشركات المذكورة من إعادة بناء الكويت التي دمّرها «التحرير» الأمريكي أكثر مما دمّرها الاحتلال العراقي. ولمّا توفّر الظرف السياسي الملائم، بفضل أسامة بن لادن وعمليات 11 أيلول/ سبتمبر الإجرامية، كي يستكمل جورج دبليو بوش ما بدأه والده من تحطيم للعراق تمهيداً لاحتلاله، كانت الشركات ذاتها تتلذّذ بالتفكير بالأرباح الطائلة التي سوف تجنيها من إعادة بناء البلد المنكوب.
وقد تكرّر المشهد ذاته عندما قامت طائرات الحلف الأطلسي بقصف ليبيا وإشاعة التدمير فيها فوق ما دمّره مجنون ليبيا ذاته، فكانت شركات المقاولة والبناء الأمريكية والأوروبية، ولا سيما الفرنسية والإيطالية والبريطانية، تحثّ حكومات بلدانها على التأكد من ضمان حصتها في سوق إعادة البناء المرتقبة في ليبيا.
والحال أن العراق وليبيا بلدان يتمتّعان بثروة نفطية عظيمة تجعل منهما زبونين على درجة عليا من الاقتدار وتجعل من سوق البناء فيهما سوقاً بالغة الجاذبية، شأنهما في ذلك شأن الكويت وشأن دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي برمّتها (طبعاً، من باب البناء وليس إعادة البناء في حالة الدول الأخيرة). لكنّ الرياح جرت بما لم تشتهِ سفن المقاولين، فالعراق وليبيا غرق كلاهما في انعدام خطير للأمن، جعل كلفة عمل الأجانب فيهما باهظة لشركات مضطرّة قانونياً إلى تأمين عمّالها.
وها أن الإمبريالية الروسية تلعب اللعبة ذاتها بدورها. فبعد أن ساعدت آل الأسد على تحطيم سوريا بمدّهم بسلاح الجوّ وغيره من وسائط التدمير، انخرطت مباشرة في عملية التحطيم محققةً فيها نقلة نوعية بتدخّلها العسكري المباشر منذ أيلول/ سبتمبر 2015. وتمتّعت روسيا بتدمير سوريا بطائراتها وصواريخها مثلما فعلت واشنطن في العراق، بل بصورة أشرس إذ أن الأمريكيين حاولوا الحدّ نوعاً ما من إسقاط الضحايا بين المدنيين خشية من الرأي العام في بلادهم بخلاف نظام فلاديمير بوتين السلطوي الذي كمّ أفواه معارضيه.
وقد حرصت موسكو على ضمان حصول شركات المقاولة والبناء لديها على «حصة الأسد» (والتعبير مناسب جداً في هذا الصدد) في سوق إعادة بناء سوريا المرتقبة. ففي نيسان/ أبريل من السنة الماضية، وقّعت موسكو ودمشق اتفاقات خاصة بإعادة إعمار سوريا بمبلغ إجمالي ناهز ملياراً من الدولارات. وفي تشرين الثاني/ نوفمبر الماضي، زار سوريا للغرض نفسه نائب رئيس الوزراء الروسي، دميتري روغوزين، فكانت زيارته مناسبة كي يصرّح وزير خارجية آل الأسد، وليد المعلّم، أن روسيا سوف تكون لها الأولوية في عقود إعادة بناء سوريا (حسب وكالات الأنباء السورية والروسية).
بيد أن سوريا ليست دولة نفطية غنيّة، وفقرها بالذات سببٌ رئيسي لقلّة اهتمام الولايات المتحدة بمصيرها إذ لا ترى فيها كنزاً يستحق القتال من أجل وضع اليد عليه. وبالطبع، لا تنوي روسيا بتاتاً تكرار ما فعلته الولايات المتحدة بعد الحرب العالمية الثانية عندما موّلت إعادة بناء أوروبا بضخ الرساميل فيها من خلال «خطة مارشال». فروسيا دولة إمبريالية فقيرة نسبياً (سبق أن ذكرنا أن الناتج المحّلي الإجمالي الروسي كان دون ناتج كوريا الجنوبية بأسعار السوق في عام 2015)، وحكمها أبعد ما يكون عن الإيثار والتفاني من أجل الغير على حساب النفس، شأنه في ذلك شأن أي دولة إمبريالية (كانت «خطة مارشال» في جزء منها تمويلاً حكومياً أمريكياً لتمدّد الشركات الأمريكية في أوروبا).
فلمّا قامت الولايات المتحدة سنة 1991 بإرجاع العراق إلى العصر الحجري، حسب التعبير الذي ورد آنذاك في تقرير موفد مجلس الأمن الدولي، وذلك بتحطيم بنيته التحتية على أوسع نطاق، كان أصحاب شركات المقاولة والبناء الأمريكية يفركون أياديهم تحسباً لنيل شركاتهم القسط الأكبر من سوق إعادة بناء العراق المدمَّر. وفي انتظار استكمال شروط تلك العملية، استفادت الشركات المذكورة من إعادة بناء الكويت التي دمّرها «التحرير» الأمريكي أكثر مما دمّرها الاحتلال العراقي. ولمّا توفّر الظرف السياسي الملائم، بفضل أسامة بن لادن وعمليات 11 أيلول/ سبتمبر الإجرامية، كي يستكمل جورج دبليو بوش ما بدأه والده من تحطيم للعراق تمهيداً لاحتلاله، كانت الشركات ذاتها تتلذّذ بالتفكير بالأرباح الطائلة التي سوف تجنيها من إعادة بناء البلد المنكوب.
وقد تكرّر المشهد ذاته عندما قامت طائرات الحلف الأطلسي بقصف ليبيا وإشاعة التدمير فيها فوق ما دمّره مجنون ليبيا ذاته، فكانت شركات المقاولة والبناء الأمريكية والأوروبية، ولا سيما الفرنسية والإيطالية والبريطانية، تحثّ حكومات بلدانها على التأكد من ضمان حصتها في سوق إعادة البناء المرتقبة في ليبيا.
والحال أن العراق وليبيا بلدان يتمتّعان بثروة نفطية عظيمة تجعل منهما زبونين على درجة عليا من الاقتدار وتجعل من سوق البناء فيهما سوقاً بالغة الجاذبية، شأنهما في ذلك شأن الكويت وشأن دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي برمّتها (طبعاً، من باب البناء وليس إعادة البناء في حالة الدول الأخيرة). لكنّ الرياح جرت بما لم تشتهِ سفن المقاولين، فالعراق وليبيا غرق كلاهما في انعدام خطير للأمن، جعل كلفة عمل الأجانب فيهما باهظة لشركات مضطرّة قانونياً إلى تأمين عمّالها.
وها أن الإمبريالية الروسية تلعب اللعبة ذاتها بدورها. فبعد أن ساعدت آل الأسد على تحطيم سوريا بمدّهم بسلاح الجوّ وغيره من وسائط التدمير، انخرطت مباشرة في عملية التحطيم محققةً فيها نقلة نوعية بتدخّلها العسكري المباشر منذ أيلول/ سبتمبر 2015. وتمتّعت روسيا بتدمير سوريا بطائراتها وصواريخها مثلما فعلت واشنطن في العراق، بل بصورة أشرس إذ أن الأمريكيين حاولوا الحدّ نوعاً ما من إسقاط الضحايا بين المدنيين خشية من الرأي العام في بلادهم بخلاف نظام فلاديمير بوتين السلطوي الذي كمّ أفواه معارضيه.
وقد حرصت موسكو على ضمان حصول شركات المقاولة والبناء لديها على «حصة الأسد» (والتعبير مناسب جداً في هذا الصدد) في سوق إعادة بناء سوريا المرتقبة. ففي نيسان/ أبريل من السنة الماضية، وقّعت موسكو ودمشق اتفاقات خاصة بإعادة إعمار سوريا بمبلغ إجمالي ناهز ملياراً من الدولارات. وفي تشرين الثاني/ نوفمبر الماضي، زار سوريا للغرض نفسه نائب رئيس الوزراء الروسي، دميتري روغوزين، فكانت زيارته مناسبة كي يصرّح وزير خارجية آل الأسد، وليد المعلّم، أن روسيا سوف تكون لها الأولوية في عقود إعادة بناء سوريا (حسب وكالات الأنباء السورية والروسية).
بيد أن سوريا ليست دولة نفطية غنيّة، وفقرها بالذات سببٌ رئيسي لقلّة اهتمام الولايات المتحدة بمصيرها إذ لا ترى فيها كنزاً يستحق القتال من أجل وضع اليد عليه. وبالطبع، لا تنوي روسيا بتاتاً تكرار ما فعلته الولايات المتحدة بعد الحرب العالمية الثانية عندما موّلت إعادة بناء أوروبا بضخ الرساميل فيها من خلال «خطة مارشال». فروسيا دولة إمبريالية فقيرة نسبياً (سبق أن ذكرنا أن الناتج المحّلي الإجمالي الروسي كان دون ناتج كوريا الجنوبية بأسعار السوق في عام 2015)، وحكمها أبعد ما يكون عن الإيثار والتفاني من أجل الغير على حساب النفس، شأنه في ذلك شأن أي دولة إمبريالية (كانت «خطة مارشال» في جزء منها تمويلاً حكومياً أمريكياً لتمدّد الشركات الأمريكية في أوروبا).
فما كان من موسكو، وقد بدأت تسعى وراء تحقيق «سلم روسي» في سوريا على غرار «السلم الأمريكي» الذي تعمل واشنطن على فرضه حيثما تيسّر لها، ما كان من موسكو سوى أن طلبت من الدول الغربية تمويل إعادة بنائها لسوريا! فقبل أيام، جمع نائب وزير الخارجية الروسي، ميخائيل بوغدانوف، سفراء دول الاتحاد الأوروبي في موسكو ليحثّهم على الاستعداد لتمويل إعادة إعمار سوريا، مؤكداً على أن الأمر سوف يحتاج إلى عشرات المليارات من الدولارات وأن روسيا لن تدفع شيئاً في سبيل ذلك المجهود (نقلاً عن صحيفة «فايننشال تايمس» في 23 شباط/ فبراير).
خلافاً لزجّاج تشارلي تشابلن، تقوم الدول الإمبريالية بتحطيم النوافذ بأياديها مباشرة، قبل أن تفرض على أصحاب المنازل تمويل تركيبها لنوافذ جديدة. وفي حالة الإمبريالية الروسية في سوريا، وصلت الصفاقة إلى حدّ طلبها من المنافسين الإمبرياليين أن يتولّوا هم تمويل إعمارها لما خرّبته بيدها.
٭ كاتب وأكاديمي من لبنان
Monday, February 27, 2017
White Helmet volunteers save child in Idlib as group wins Oscar
The group described saving a child in rebel-held Idlib while a documentary about its work received an Oscar as 'the real win'
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Syria's White Helmets say volunteer rescuers on the ground were saving a child in Idlib at the moment when a short documentary about the group's work won an Oscar.
An image posted on the group's social media page showed volunteers from its branch in rebel-held Idlib pulling a child out of rubble following a reported Syrian government air strike early on Monday morning local time.
The child was pulled alive from rubble in the Ariha area of Idlib, but rescue teams continued to search for missing civilians trapped following the bombing.
Describing the saving of the child as a "real win," the group also said it was an "honour" that Netflix feature film won in the "Best Short Documentary" category at the Oscars ceremony in Hollywood on Sunday night.
The group also posted a picture showing White Helmet volunteers hugging each other after its rescue centre was targeted by a suspected Syrian government air strike
Filmmakers Joanna Natasegara and Orlando Von Einsiedel, who directed the short documentary, thanked the White Helmets in their acceptance speech.
"It's very easy for these guys to feel they're forgotten...this war's been going on for six years," Von Einsiedel said, urging attendees at the prestigious ceremony to "stand up and remind the White Helmets that we all care".
Einsiedel also read out a statement from Raed Saleh, the head of the White Helmets.
The @SyriaCivilDefe message at the #Oscars ,as we could not be there. Thanks everyone for supporting our work in saving lives.
Saleh had managed to obtain a visa to enter the US, but declined an invitation to the ceremony citing an increased workload due to intense bombardment of rebel-held areas by the Syrian government.
"I won't travel to OSCAR due to the intensity of work, our priority is helping our people," Saleh had tweeted in English.
White Helmet volunteer denied entry despite having valid visa
However, fellow White Helmet Khaled Khatib, whose work features prominently in the film, was denied entry to the United States after the Department of Homeland Security said it had discovered "derogatory information" about him.
Khatib was stuck in Istanbul airport for three days before being told by Turkish authorities that he would need a passport waiver to allow him entry into the US.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said only that “a valid travel document is required for travel to the United States,” declining to provide further information.
In a statement online, Khatib said he was "delighted that we won an Oscar - it shows us that people care about us and the people we serve."
The two rescuers had feared they could be barred from attending the ceremony because of US President Donald Trump's executive order in late January that banned entry to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, including Syria.
The ban has since been lifted by a US federal court, and both Khalid and Saleh received their visas to attend the ceremony in Hollywood.
According to statistics compiled by the White Helmets, volunteer rescuers have saved over 85,000 civilians since the group's inception in 2013.
It currently has over 3,000 volunteers conducting rescue missions across rebel-held parts of Syria.
The group, which missed out on winning the Nobel Peace Prize last year, has also been targeted repeatedly by militias and groups loyal to the Syrian government.
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