This paper focuses on the role of Armenian physicians, nurses, and midwives in Ottoman Syria during World War I to explore the role of agency in the historical debate in general, and narratives of humanitarianism in particular. As soon as the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) enacted empire-wide arrests, deportations, and massacres in the spring of 1915, Armenians organized various forms of resistance. Leaders and intellectuals in Istanbul who had evaded capture initiated a clandestine chain of communication between the Ottoman provinces and the outside world, smuggling reports of atrocities out of the country. Others created groups that procured, transferred, and distributed funds, food, and medication to exiles, saved them from sexual slavery, created safe houses and underground orphanages, and upheld deportee morale. These groups were loosely interlinked, operating out of cities where the population was only partially deported, and along railroad lines extending from Istanbul to Syria. By focusing on physicians, nurses, and midwives in Aleppo, Raqqa, and Der Zor, I argue for refining our conceptualization of resistance to include subtler, more common instances of organized opposition, and unshackling the study of the Armenian genocide from perpetrator-centric or western humanitarian-focused narratives.