by Leeron Hoory

The heroes of “The White Helmets”, a film about the fearless group of rescue volunteers in Syria, weren’t at the Oscars on Sunday to accept their award for best documentary short. They were too busy saving lives in their home country.

“Intense air strikes across the country mean he must focus on work inside Syria,” the Syria Civil Defense said in a Twitter statement posted on Sunday to explain why the head of the group, Raed Saleh, stayed behind.

SYRIA CIVIL DEFENCE STATEMENT ON OSCARS | Saturday 25th February 2017#Oscar @netflix pic.twitter.com/2oEuxEHhtg

— Khaled Khatib (@995Khaled) February 26, 2017

Only fifteen minutes after the Netflix documentary won the award, a Russian airstrike took out a residential building in Ariha, Syria. The volunteers helped pull out seven children, two women, and two men from the rubble.

Director Orlando von Einsiedel and producer Joanna Natasegara accepted the award in person, read from the speech Saleh recorded from Turkey.

“Our humanitarian work is based on the verse from the Quran: To save a life would be as great a virtue as to save all of mankind,” Saleh said. “I invite anyone here who hears me to work on the side of life to stop the bloodshed in Syria and around the world.”

As the deadly civil war now approaches its sixth year, with no end in sight, the volunteers, formed of former teachers, bakers, and tailors, are the first responders to aerial attacks. Since 2013, the group has saved over 80,000 lives.

Their uniform of their signature white helmets are now become a symbol of hope across Syria.

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