Russian and Syrian diplomats presented the report The Syrian Humanitarian Record: Eyewitness Testimony at the Palace of Nations in Vienna. In particular, the report covered stagings by the White Helmets, who operate there on orders from the West. In order to show the actual situation in the Arab Republic, Moscow and Damascus gathered real eyewitness testimony.
Our European correspondent, Regina Sevastyanova, will share the details. She's with us live.
- Greetings, Regina. I pass the floor to you.
- Greetings. The report that was presented here in the UN's Geneva office was based on the interviews of more than 100 eyewitnesses in the Syrian conflict. One of the leading investigators, Maxim Grigoryev, a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, personally presented the report here. Apart from other things, he managed to interview 50 residents of the region where the stagings took place or where the White Helmets were operating, 15 former militants, and 40 White Helmets officers. All of those interviews has enough evidence to be sure that the White Helmets are basically a terrorist group. The officers took part in active combat. Their operations in Syria allowed a whole group to form, a whole system of forcible organ extraction from the bodies of the locals who suffered from the Syrian War.
Many things that the world media say about the White Helmets is nothing more than fake news according to the report. It was enough to visit places featured in the stagings that the White Helmets were posting on the internet. They even received an Academy Award for one of their documentaries. Finding the witnesses of those stagings was a matter of only a couple of minutes. They were usually willing to cooperate with the investigators and were ready to be interviewed.
Gennady Gatilov, Permanent Representatives of Russia: "The BBC editor and director who was filming those documentaries about the chemical agents being used in a hospital in Douma admitted that the footage was staged. Such facts will shed light on the real situation in the region. I believe that now, they'll be paying more and more attention to our words."
As we know, the global media portraits the White Helmets as a volunteer organization that performs humanitarian functions on Syrian territory. However, the testimonies gathered by Moscow and Damascus show that first, the officers were regularly paid and received large rations. The experts weren't just working with people but were also studying the social media pages of White Helmets officers. They discovered that many of them were open sympathizers of terrorists. Many of them have photos with weapons, by the way. The experts also noted that the terrorist groups and the armed opposition considered the Helmets to be not just their allies but units under their command. According to the report, there's now a very serious risk that the former White Helmets' officers will return back home, threatening the citizens of their countries.
Hussam Edin Aala, Permanent Representative of Syria: "In my view, the officers that were cooperating with Western intelligence were able to leave the region. The rest of the unit was abandoned by their superiors. I know that many of them are stuck in Jordan. The West doesn't want them back because they're clearly terrorists".
Events similar to the one held today are crucially important, say the Russian and Syrian diplomats. Today's presentation was attended by the representatives of 29 countries. It's becoming increasingly difficult for the world community to ignore the truth.
Studio?
- Thank you, Regina. We had our European correspondent, Regina Sevastyanova, with us live.
White Helmets officers have repeatedly supplied incorrect information to international organizations, including the OPCW.
Alexander Lukyanov with the details of the motive and methods of the pseudo-humanitarian organization.
The true goals of the White Helmets, an allegedly humanitarian organization that was operating in the military conflict zone in Syria, have been exposed. First, despite claiming to be volunteers, they weren't.
Bassam az-Eddin Hadi Alnajib, a journalist who used to work with the White Helmets: "There weren't any volunteers in their ranks. They used to get paid $300. Later, their paycheck was cut to $150. Apart from that, they were getting monthly rations that cost about $80".
One could only get enlisted on the recommendation of the Sharia Militant Committee. One of the organizations that could recommend a candidate was Jabhat Al-Nusra, a branch of Al Qaeda. This awarded them a confidant status. That's why militant groups never stopped or searched White Helmets officers or their vehicles.
Omar Mustafa bin Mohammed, resident of Aleppo: "Almost every White Helmets officer came from Jabhat Al-Nusra or were associated with it. I personally tried to join the organization but I was told that since I wasn't a terrorist in the ranks of Jabhat Al-Nusra I couldn't enlist. Each new recruit had a document certified by the Sharia Committee of Jabhat Al-Nusra."
The locals frequently saw armed White Helmets officers on the frontline in particular.
Abduljafar Bodaka, White Helmets' officer: "We were successfully cooperating with Mohammed Afashi from the Suriah group. We had officers who were at the same time militants such as Abdurahman Fartu Kavi or Louay Mashhadi. During our two-to-three day weekends, they traveled to the frontline, in order to fight there. We were offered an additional $100 per month for taking part in active combat".
Among other things, the officers were carrying out the tasks of combat engineers: digging trenches, and transporting the militants' weapons and ammunition. They were doing it openly.
Bassam az-Eddin Hadi Alnajib: "The White Helmets built a foothold against the Syrian Army. The primary obstacle was a 15-foot-wide and a 20-to-25 mile-long moat. It went from Bayt Na'im to Al-Maidah. I saw vehicles with the White Helmets' emblems with my own eyes. They took part in digging of all the tunnels located in Eastern Ghouta. There are about 150 of those".
Humanitarian aid in the form of food supplied by international charity funds was distributed by the White Helmets only among the families of militants claim the Syrians.
Abduljafar Bodaka, White Helmets' officer: “They usually gave the people humanitarian aid in order to show it in their documentary. I saw them once hand out 25 boxes. The process was filmed to create the image of a charity organization. That was the idea of the director of Aleppo's White Helmets, Ammar Al-Salmo. We did that a couple of times but we were mostly supporting the families of militants.”
The motto on the organization's website reads "We act neutrally, impartially, and for all Syrians." But here are some of them posing with dead soldiers of the Syrian Army and attending the executions of civilians.
Bassam az-Eddin Hadi Alnajib: "I can say that the majority of the Helmets' officers supported Islamic fundamentalism. They were saying that they support Western democracy for propaganda purposes. In fact, all of them were either radicals or Salafists".
Apart from the already-exposed stagings and fake news the White Helmets' officers were also part of an illegal internal organ transplantation scheme.
Omar Mustafa bin Mohammed: "People who got evacuated by the White Helmets often didn't return home. For example, a person gets slightly injured, they get saved and evacuated, and then, return them back with their abdomen ripped open and without internal organs".
Abdurazak Nassan bin Nuaman, former member of Ahrar Al-Sham: "When I was working for Ahrar Al-Sham, my commander was Shadi Qadiq, codenamed "Abu Adel Al-Halibi". I asked him why injured people, after being evacuated to Turkey., were returning with their organs missing. He told me that they were doing it deliberately in order to treat injured militants. They were taking kidneys and other organs from civilians and handing them over to militant hospitals. He confirmed all of that".
The Western public was fooled, conclude the investigators of the Foundation for the Study of Democracy. However, those who were using the White Helmets as their tools had no illusions regarding it. It's proved by the fact that the leader of the White Helmets, Raed Saleh, was banned from the U.S. and got his visa canceled without any explanation, putting him on a par with other terrorists.
Alexander Lukyanov, Vesti.
