Head, Syria Civil Defence
Raed Saleh is the Head of the Syrian Civil Defence.
Aged 32, he leads 2,851 search and rescue volunteers as head of Syria Civil Defence. Before the Syrian Revolution, Raed was a businessman who sold electrical equipment. After the start of the popular protests in Deraa in March 2011, he started organising peaceful protests and demonstrations in his home town Jisr Ashughour. The Syrian Army entered his town in June 2011 forcing him to go into hiding in Turkey. By the end of 2012, several areas in Idlib, Syria had been liberated from Syrian Army troops and he returned to Idlib to work in the humanitarian field helping refugees and displaced persons.
Raed heard about training being offered in Civil Defence and attended the first course run for Idlib in June 2013. He excelled during the course and his team mates elected him as their representative and he returned to set-up a further 20 teams in Idlib over the next 12 months. He is appointed by the regional SCD leaders as the head of Syria Civil Defence in the liberated areas, consisting of more than 2,800 members and 114 stations. . He is married with two children, a daughter aged 10 and a son aged 9.