Around 800 members of Syrian rescue organisation The White Helmets and their families have been evacuated to Jordan, according to Israeli media reports.

The Israeli military confirmed members of a Syrian volunteer civil organisation had been rescued from the Golan Heights border area of Syria due to “an immediate threat to (Syrians’) lives”.

Reports say the volunteers were transferred to Jordan and would travel on from there to the UK, Germany and Canada.

The announcement marks the first such Israeli intervention in Syria’s civil war.

The military says the “exceptional humanitarian gesture” was done at the request of the United States and its European allies.

It said this does not reflect a change to its non-intervention policy in Syria’s war.