'Our Revolution is Green': White Helmets mark 11th anniversary of Syrian uprising with mass tree planting
The White Helmets launched a reforestation campaign on Wednesday to mark the 11th anniversary of the Syrian revolution.
The 'Our Revolution is Green' campaign will involve over 100 volunteers in collaboration with the Stabilisation Support unit and aims to plant 1,800 trees in public areas, along roads, and in villages in northern Aleppo province over three days.
Volunteers said it will give "hope in the Syria we dream about", amid ongoing conflict and poverty across the country.
"Today [we]... launched a tree-planting campaign in the countryside of Aleppo. The campaign aims to plant 1,800 trees in public facilities and roads in many villages [across] north Aleppo," the humanitarian aid group tweeted.
بمشاركة أكثر من 100 متطوع من #الخوذ_البيضاء انطلقت اليوم الأربعاء 16 آذار حملة تشجير بعنوان "ثورتنا خضرة" بمناسبة الذكرى السنوية الحادية عشرة لـ #الثورة_السورية وذلك بالتعاون مع وحدة دعم الاستقرار، وفرق تطوعية وفعاليات محلية لزراعة 1800 شجرة في عدد من المرافق العامة في ريف #حلب. pic.twitter.com/9EEBLneull
— الدفاع المدني السوري (@SyriaCivilDefe) March 16, 2022
The White Helmets began their work in 2012 as grassroots teams of volunteers across Syria, before they officially became a unified group in 2014.
The group celebrated the seventh anniversary of its founding last October.
In that time they have lost 292 volunteers, most killed as a result of direct targeting or strikes by Syrian regime and Russian forces.
Syrians filled the streets of Idlib on Tuesday to celebrate the 11th anniversary of the Syrian revolution.
Idlib province, along with parts of Aleppo and Latakia provinces remain the only part of Syria held by the opposition.
Russian military intervention in 2o15 pushed the tide of the conflict in favour of President Bashar Al-Assad and saw his brutal regime win back rebel territories.
Since the beginning of the Syrian revolution in 2011, over 500,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced, mostly as a result of the regime's violent crackdown on anti-regime protests and subsequent bombing of civilian areas.