Right now, more than 300,000 people are very disappointed. In all likelihood, the number is most probably in the tens of millions. Why? Because the Syria Civil Defence, more widely known as the White Helmets, did not win the 2016 Nobel peace prize – despite the hundreds of thousands of signatures on a petition. Instead, that honour went to President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia. And that is exactly as it should be.

Over the past five years, the White Helmets have pulled at least 60,000 people out of the burning rubble that once formed their homes, mosques and schools. These rescuers risk their lives every time they run towards the fire and the screams. They have lost 160 of their own volunteers. They have remained neutral in a conflict so protracted and complex that it has more ever-changing fractions than a kaleidoscope. And yet they did not win.

Their motto, “To save one life is to save all of humanity”, is a beautiful, simple creed that has helped their example of bravery and defiance amass support across the world. And yet despite that support, the bombs still fall in Syria.