WASHINGTON has boosted funding for the pseudo-humanitarian White Helmets group who operate mainly in jihadist areas of Syria pledging a $5 million handout at a Brussels conference on Thursday.

Funding for the controversial group was announced by US ambassador James Jeffrey at the Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region conference in the Belgian capital.

US State Department spokesman Robert Palladino praised the White Helmets as “heroic first responders” claiming their actions had saved more than 114,000 lives since the war on Syria began.