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Vanessa Beeley – Patreon Sept 8, 2020

Originally published at Unlimited Hangout

 Meet the Violet organization, a new “Syrian” NGO pushed into the limelight by neocolonialist media outlets, which works alongside the terrorist-linked White Helmets and in areas occupied by Al Qaeda affiliates and rebrands.

While the world is distracted by the Covid-19 crisis, scant attention has been paid to events in Syria. The US-led coalition is maintaining a savage multispectrum war on the country, but few are aware of the suffering of the Syrian people as the media have barely reported on the starvation, economic catastrophe, scorched-earth policyand war crimes directly committed by the US-led coalition and indirectly via their client terrorist groups. All of these are components of the US-led spoiler policy designed to economically reduce Syria to a failed state, a sinister objective they were unable to achieve militarily.

The White Helmets’ Fall from Grace

White Helmets with al Qaeda militants. Click to enlarge

For seven years of the hybrid war waged against Syria by the US-led coalition, the White Helmets were the flagship manufacturers of much of the propaganda aimed at maintaining the criminalization of the Syrian state, its army, and its allies. Their multimillion-dollar PR image has recently taken a battering, however. From their involvement in the Douma chemical weapon hoax to accusations of their murdering civilians and planting corpses for use as “props” in images used to justify US-led coalition bombings of Syria, the White Helmet organization has been discredited on several occasions and is no longer a pristine brand.

Even prior to the exposure of their collaboration with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), itself recently exposed as a corrupt and compromised organization, the White Helmets were reported to have participated in various terrorist war crimes including the execution of prisoners of war and civilians. A study carried out by Maxim Grigoriev of the Foundation for the Study of Democracy raised the issue of organ and human trafficking and child abuse by this same group. Grigoriev’s seminal investigation is supported by testimonies I have also collated over my years of reporting on this terrorist-affiliated group.

 “The White Helmets use civilians, especially children as props for their movies. What kind of” humanitarian” carries guns? They are criminals wth many faces, more dangerous than terrorists. The White Helmets are main partners in the Idlib organ trade mafia.”  ~ Dr Zaher Hajjo, Director Forensic Medicine

A discussion I had with a senior UN official two years ago confirmed that many in the UN are aware of these crimes but know that they will never be investigated because the White Helmets are too “politicized”—meaning that the countries funding them will never openly admit that their intelligence asset in Syria was responsible for atrocities committed against the very civilians they claim to defend.

However, the Dutch government did withdraw funding in September 2018 following an investigation that concluded that there was a high risk of funds that were destined for the so-called humanitarian organization would end up in the hands of the various armed groups occupying and controlling the territory where White Helmets exclusively work.

Following the suspicious death of James Le Mesurier, the British military-intelligence founder of the White Helmets, in Istanbul in November 2019, investigations revealed his involvement in fraud and embezzlement of funds destined for the White Helmets. As a consequence, the German government demanded the repayment of 50,000 euros in March 2020 in connection with these financial irregularities. Western media are naturally trying to downplay the seriousness of these findings. A separate in-depth investigation into Le Mesurier’s business activities and covert role in Syria was carried out by the Working Group on Syria, Media and Propaganda and can be read here.

The controversy surrounding the White Helmets and their own members’ carelessness in posting images of themselves carrying weapons and fraternizing with terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda, has damaged their reputation in the public consensus. Yet, the media is still protecting this group as are the primary governments that fund them, the UK being the foremost defender of the construct. As a result, it seems increasingly likely that the White Helmets are going to be quietly shelved at some point in the hope that their crimes will be forgotten amid the Covid-19 chaos that has now swept across the world.

The White Helmets’ Replacement

 

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