Up to 800 White Helmets rescue workers in Syria were evacuated to Jordan on Sunday with the help of the Israeli military and could be resettled in the UK.

Jordan's foreign ministry announced in a statement that the kingdom received 422 Syrian citizens, after earlier saying it had given permission for 800 to arrive.

The Syrian regime considers the White Helmets as a 'terrorist organisations' as they operate in areas controlled by opponents to Bashar al-Assad. The group fled the area near the southern border earlier this summer.

On Monday Damascus condemned the evacuation, calling it a 'criminal operation.'

The UK has backed an international effort to rescue members of the group and their families via the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a joint statement with Penny Mordaunt, the International Development Secretary, that the 'brave and selfless' volunteers required 'immediate protection'.

An Israeli soldier hands out water on a bus during the evacuation of White Helmets from Syria

A convoy on its way from the Golan Heights as the Israeli army helped to rescue White Helmets

Jordan has agreed to temporarily house 422 evacuees, although its Foreign Ministry said Britain, Germany and Canada would resettle them.

Spokesman Mohammed al-Kayed said the Syrians would remain in a closed area for up to three months before moving on.

It is understood that the United Nations Human Right Council's procedures for identifying and resettling refugees would be used to decide who could come to the UK, while their placement would be resolved through the Government's vulnerable persons resettlement scheme.

Israel carried out the rescue mission on Saturday night following a request from the 'US, Canada, and EU countries'.

It was the first such intervention the country has had in Syria's civil war, now in its eighth year.

A spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces said the operation was an 'exceptional humanitarian gesture'.

'Upon request of the US, Canada and European states Israel has completed a humanitarian effort to rescue members of a Syrian civil organisation ('White Helmets') and families,' Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon tweeted.

But the military vowed to stay firm in its commitment to a non-intervention policy - where all the warring parties are considered hostile.

A video grab shows the evacuation of White Helmet rescuers in Syria on their way to Jordan

Family members of the Syrian WHite Helmet rescuers on a bus during the evacuation

It is unclear at this time just how many Syrian rescue workers could be relocated to the UK.

Mr Hunt and Penny Mordaunt said in a joint statement: 'Following a joint diplomatic effort by the UK and international partners, a group of White Helmets volunteers from southern Syria and their families have been able to leave Syria for safety.

'They are now being assisted by the UNHCR in Jordan pending international resettlement.

'The White Helmets have saved over 115,000 lives during the Syrian conflict, at great risk to their own. Many White Helmets volunteers have also been killed while doing their work - trying to rescue civilians trapped in bombarded buildings or providing first aid to injured civilians.

'White Helmets have been the target of attacks and, due to their high profile, we judged that, in these particular circumstances, the volunteers required immediate protection. We therefore took steps with the aim of affording that protection to as many of the volunteers and their families as possible.

'We pay tribute to the brave and selfless work that White Helmets volunteers have done to save Syrians on all sides of the conflict.'

Germany and Canada are also expected to rehouse some of those evacuated.

Jordan 'authorised the United Nations to organise the passage of 800 Syrian citizens through Jordan to be resettled in western countries,' the kingdom said.

'The government gave the permission after Britain, Germany and Canada made a legally binding undertaking to resettle them within a specified period of time due to 'a risk to their lives',' it explained.

People are escorted to a bus by Israeli soldiers during the evacuation on Sunday

People walk with children during the evacuation of White Helmets from war-torn Syria

Jordan 'authorised the United Nations to organise the passage of 800 Syrian citizens' the kingdom said. Pictured: Israeli soldiers on a bus

Founded in 2013, the Syria Civil Defence, or White Helmets, is a network of first responders which rescues wounded in the aftermath of air strikes, shelling or explosions in rebel-held territory.

White Helmets head Raed Saleh said the evacuees had arrived in Jordan after being 'surrounded in a dangerous region'.

They were encircled in the provinces of Daraa and Quneitra, he said, including a number trapped between the border with the Golan Heights and advancing Russia-backed regime troops, he told AFP.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said she 'called for global leadership to support and help these heroes' during a meeting of foreign ministers at the NATO leaders' summit in Brussels a week ago.

People board a bus at an unknown location as Israel took White Helmets via the Golan Heights

Israeli soldiers guiding members of families of Syrian White Helmet rescuers into a bus

Members of the Israeli security forces clear the way for a bus to evacuate the White Helmets

Civilians rushing out of the damaged buildings in Syria after airstrikes hit a school housing a number of displaced people. Running toward the danger is a member of the White Helmets

Israel has been sending medical aid to civilians who have fled fighting in the Syrian-controlled part of the Golan Heights.

Israel seized 1,200 460 square miles of the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, in a move never recognised internationally.

On June 19, forces of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad launched an Russia-backed offensive to retake Daraa and Quneitra provinces.

Who are Syria's White Helmets? Founded in 2013, the Syria Civil Defence, or White Helmets, is a network of first responders which rescues wounded in the aftermath of air strikes, shelling or explosions in rebel-held territory. The White Helmets have rescued thousands of civilians trapped under the rubble or caught up in fighting in battered opposition-held zones along various fronts of Syria's seven-year conflict. Since its formation, when Syria's conflict was nearing its third year, more than 200 of its volunteers have died and another 500 have been wounded. The group's motto -- 'To save one life is to save all of humanity' -- is drawn from a verse in the Koran, although the White Helmets insist they treat all victims, regardless of religion. A wounded White Helmets volunteer evacuates his injured colleague following a reported air strike on the rebel-controlled town of Hammuriyeh in 2017 Some members have received training abroad, including in Turkey, returning to instruct colleagues on search-and-rescue techniques. The group receives funding from a number of governments, including Britain, Germany and the United States, but also solicits individual donations to purchase equipment such as its signature hard hats. Last year, a Netflix production called 'The White Helmets' won an Academy Award for best short documentary. A second film on the group, named 'Last Men in Aleppo,' was nominated for an Oscar in 2018. Advertisement

Just a month later, government institutions look set to return to most of these two provinces through a combination of deadly bombardment and Moscow-brokered surrender deals.

These deals provide for rebels to hand over their heavy weapons and those who disagree with a regime takeover to be bussed with family members towards opposition-held areas in the north of the country.

Jihadists are not party to these deals, and Russian planes bombarded a holdout of Islamic State in Daraa province overnight, a Britain-based war monitor said.

More than 20,000 civilians have fled bombardment on the IS-held corner on the border with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan in the past 24 hours, fleeing into regime-held areas, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.