James Le Mesurier

James Le Mesurier was the British co-founder of the White Helmets, a volunteer civil defense organisation in the Syrian Civil War.

He was a former British Army Officer and previously worked with the UN Peacekeeping Force in the former Yugoslavia. He was also the director of the non-profit Mayday Rescue Foundation. He died in 2019 near his home in Istanbul.

Syria Civil Defence was founded in 2013, and by 2015, was reported to have more than 2,700 volunteers. Le Mesurier told Al-Jazeera that by 2015 they had saved more than 24,000 people. "At the time, I was working in Istanbul... and got together with a group of Turkish earthquake rescue volunteers", Le Mesurier told Al-Jazeera. Le Mesurier worked with Syrian activists like to help found the White Helmets.

The White Helmets received funding from Western governments for their work, as well as raising money through crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo.

In 2018, the Guardian reported that the UK had agreed to give asylum to 500 White Helmets volunteers who had been evacuated to Jordan. The UK government justified the decision by noting that “The White Helmets have saved over 115,000 lives during the Syrian conflict".

Le Mesurier was awarded an OBE in 2016 for services to the protection of civilians in Syria.

Criticism

Le Mesurier and the White Helmets have received criticism from individuals and groups opposed to Western intervention in Syria for the funding they received from Western governments, with some critics stating that Le Mesurier's British Army background meant that he was effectively operating as a British state agent. The White Helmets received initial funding from governments opposed to the regime of Bashar al-Assad, like Qatar. Critics opposed to Western involvement in Syria and backers of the Assad regime came to effectively see the White Helmets and Le Mesurier as an organisation pushing for regime change in Syria, or even cooperating with terrorist groups in the country.

Death

On 11 November, 2019, Le Mesurier was found dead in the Kemankes Karamustafapasa neighbourhood of Istanbul. The Huffington Post reported that a week previously, Le Mesurier had been accused on Twitter by Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs of being a former MI6 agent with "connections to terrorist groups". An anonymous source told Middle East Eye that “He appeared to have fallen from a height. Current information suggests he had committed suicide”. Raed al-Salah, leader of the White Helmets, stated that “The police is investigating it. We don’t have any certain information on what has transpired.”