Syria: Who are the White Helmets?

I was recently asked the following question, by a media outlet in a written interview, and wanted to share my response with my readers:

Question:

Multiple places in Syria came under attack by the United States and its allies, namely Britain and France, based on a video footage of an alleged gas attack in Syria’s Douma released by the White Helmets. Who are the White Helmets? How can their unverified video be presented as justification for a large scale attack on Syria?

My Response: 

The White Helmets also known as "Syria Civil Defense" claim to be a “humanitarian organization". They won an Oscar for best documentary and were nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.  According to their Twitter account they claim that they are “3,922 volunteer search and rescue workers from local communities who risk their lives to save others and bring hope”. They also state that they have “saved +104,933 lives”. 

The reality on the ground however is an entirely different story. They hijacked the name “Syria Civil Defense". The White Helmets were created with the assistance of Western intelligence by former British Army officer and mercenary James Le Mesurier. Their main goal initially was the ousting of President Assad, through the use of propaganda against the Syrian government and army. They have acted out fake rescue’s and even staged chemical weapon attacks in order to gain financial and emotional support from governments and well-meaning but unfortunately uninformed western spectators. 

These fabrications have been used as pretexts for foreign military and political aggression against the Syrian state. Most recently  The White Helmets have been described by locals as actors, who produce and film fabrications in order to get funding from a number of NATO members mainly the U.S. and U.K.. 

Although they claim to be an impartial non-governmental “NGO” made up of volunteers each member is paid $1,500 a month, an amount that is drastically higher than the average monthly Syrian salary. They have received millions of dollars of funding from the US and UK. All while committing a myriad of atrocities including killing not only Syrian soldiers and captives, but innocent women and children as well. They have been thoroughly exposed by independent journalists as well as the Russian and Syrian government for their crimes. Most recently the Douma incident has shed light on the extent to which this group will go to fabricate an incident in order to evoke a military response from the United States. 

An earlier example is the liberation of Aleppo which took place late 2016 by the Syrian Arab Army and their allies, civilians revealed that they had only heard of the white helmets on T.V. or in publications. Others stated that The White Helmets were only concerned with “rescuing” terrorist sympathizers, it comes as no surprise that they shared buildings with terrorist factions. They also were hoarding food, medical supplies, and aid that was meant for the locals.  Recently Washington has frozen their funding and put the group under “active review”. This affects ⅓ of their funding. It’s interesting to note that these supposed “volunteers” make about $1,500 a month. Also noteworthy is the fact that they only operate in areas where terrorists reside and they leave with the terrorists when they relocate to other areas in the country when the Syrian Arab Army and their allies liberate their areas.

It’s ridiculous that the US/UK/France used a fabricated video presented to them by the White Helmets to strike targets in Syria last month. A completely unjustified and illegal action, that destroyed research centers that did not house chemical weapons as these countries alleged. Citizens have reported that no such chemical weapons attack took place in Douma. 

Eyewitnesses were flown to The Hague and gave their testimonies which matched that of other civilians that were interviewed by reporters in Douma. They stated that not only did the white helmets create a chaotic event and filmed it, but that none of the patients showed signs of chemical weapon poisoning. The fact that the US acted as judge, jury and executioner, as I had stated on an interview with Radio Sputnik, is disturbing. The day before the OPCW investigators were scheduled to arrive in Syria, the US along with the UK and France took matters into their own hands. This irrational action has now been proven to be illegitimate and hasty. 

VIDEO: US journalist @PearsonSharp reports from the #Douma hospital, talks with medical staff including the general surgeon and patients who were present when #WhiteHelmets filmed their "chemical attack" hoax - simply first-hand witness accounts - no sign of a real chemical attack.

Photo Source