The president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the Nobel peace prize today for his efforts to make peace with FARC rebels in the country. The news comes a few days after Colombians narrowly voted to reject a peace agreement with the group.
In the weeks leading up to the announcement, there was much speculation that the White Helmets – also known as the Syrian civil defense – would be award the prize. They were nominated for their search and rescue operations in rebel-held territory in Syria. Naturally, many Syria-focused tweeters had things to say after learning the White Helmets were passed over.
Many tweeters felt the White Helmets should’ve won the prize over Santos, or at least continued to heap praise on the group despite them not winning.
Respect for President Juan Manuel Santos, but the #NobelPeacePrize should have gone to @SyriaCivilDef #WhiteHelmets
— Maria Shopova (@maria_evidence) October 7, 2016
Congrats for the Syrian @SyriaCivilDef heroes for winning our hearts and losing a stone prize. You are our #NobelPeacePrize heroes
— Mahmoud Al Basha (@Mahmoud_Bashaa) October 7, 2016
Others who thought the White Helmets should’ve won said the prize is irrelevant, a criticism that has been made frequently in recent years, such as when US president Barack Obama won in 2009 just a few months into his first term.
Always count on the Nobel Peace Prize to continue to be a strong argument for its own irrelevance.
— Iyad el-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) October 7, 2016
Pro-regime accounts, for their part, continued to attack the White Helmets over alleged ties to jihadist groups.
Shame the ALQaeda #WhiteHelmets deserved the nobel peace prize since it traditionally goes to violent War criminals like Kissinger and Obama
— Partisangirl (@Partisangirl) October 7, 2016
And many Syria-focused tweeters made jokes about the announcement.
Russia is surrounded by ceasefires, but a guy that has only one gets the #NobelPeacePrize? Western bias!!
— Darth Putin (@DarthPutinKGB) October 7, 2016
Still better than Obama https://t.co/VveSU61dpl
— Hassan Ridha (@sayed_ridha) October 7, 2016
The White Helmets themselves congratulated Santos and Colombia for the prize.
Meanwhile, the White Helmets’ headquarters in Hama were reportedly bombed as the prize was announced this morning.
AL
