California animal lover Marcy Christmas launched the international "canine-atarian" operation after she spotted the pups and their mum in the background of TV war footage filmed near the Iraqi-Jordanian border three months ago.
"They were standing in the middle of a desert road. It was too tragic and I had to do something," said Christmas, who spent weeks tracking the animals down, even appealing to Jordan's Queen Rania and Noor for help.