Ties between White Helmets and Terrorists in Syria Expanding: Russian Expert

WASHINGTON- The so-called “White Helmets” group, which has claimed conducting humanitarian task in Syria, continues to engage in illegal activities in the country while its ties with terrorists are expanding, director of the Fund for Research of Problems of Democracy Maxim Grigoryev told a press conference at the Russian Embassy in Washington on Monday, according to Itar Tass.

“We have a lot of evidence that the illegal activities of the White Helmets continue in Idlib. They have even more ties to terrorist groups now. All those crimes that I talked about today, continue in Idlib,” Grigoryev said.

 The White Helmets group was created in Syria in 2014. The group is notorious for uploading to the world web photographs and videos allegedly illustrating destruction and casualties caused by the Syrian government army and its allies. It has been fabricating fakes. Some of the alleged victims shown in the video as victims of a chemical attack in Douma eventually testified as witnesses at a news briefing arranged by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to refute the very instance of chemical attacks, Tass said.

Russia’s official position is that the White Helmets group is part of a media campaign unleashed against the Syrian authorities. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in January 2018 the White Helmets have long cooperated with terrorist groups and utterly discredited themselves by stating provocations and spreading flagrant falsehoods.

Washington Once Again Acknowledges Support for “White Helmets”

Meantime, the US State Department has once again acknowledged Washington’s support for the “White Helmets” terror group which has close links to Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization.

“Senior State Department officials met with some “White Helmets” leaders last week to discuss what they called “humanitarian needs”, the US State Department said in a tweet, adding “we are proud of supporting the White Helmets”.

Last year, Washington announced that US President Donald Trump earmarked $6.6 million to fund the “White Helmets” group which has been proved to have close connection with the terrorists in Syria.

Hamda Mustafa