Fleeing Syria shows whose orders the White Helmets follow?
(Baonghean.vn) - On July 24, TASS news agency reported that the Russian Foreign Ministry in an official statement said that the White Helmets organization was involved in the "most disgusting" provocations in the conflict in Syria.
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| Headquarters of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Photo: TASS |
The ministry also affirmed that the fact that the staff working for the White Helmets NGO fled Syria with outside support shows whose orders and financial resources they rely on to survive.
Emmanuel Nahshon - the official spokesman of the Israeli Foreign Ministry said earlier on July 23 that the country had evacuated White Helmets members and their relatives from Syria at the request of the US, Canada and many Western countries.
Israeli military radio station Galei Tzahal said about 800 people were brought to Jordan from southern Syria in the operation, as the Syrian government army tightened its anti-terror campaign there.
Meanwhile, government officials in Damascus claim that the White Helmets are linked to the terrorist group Jabhat al-Nusra and act in its interests. The US began funding the White Helmets in 2013 and has so far provided the group with more than $33 million.
“The information we have indicates that the West has evacuated a large group of people posing as aid workers to Jordan via Israeli territory,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Meanwhile, it is well known that the White Helmets are involved in most of the disgusting provocations in the Syrian conflict.”
“The organization focuses its operations only on areas controlled by extremist Islamists, creating obvious fakes that can be used as a pretext to make accusations against the Syrian authorities,” the ministry added.
"The White Helmets' choice to flee Syria with foreign support is quite symbolic, thereby exposing their nature and hypocrisy to the whole world... These people show in the clearest way whose orders they have been carrying out and whose money they are living on," the statement said.
Moscow also drew attention to recent statements by the official spokesman of the US State Department on the results of the phone call between Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and his US counterpart Mike Pompeo.
“These statements are being made in typical American fashion, hastily, that Russia is not living up to its obligations in southwestern Syria,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “In this regard, we would like to emphasize that the situation on the ground is completely opposite. It is Washington that has done nothing in the past few months in the southwestern de-escalation zone to separate the so-called moderate opposition units from the terrorist groups IS and Jabhat al-Nusra.”
“Thanks to the successful actions of the Syrian Armed Forces and our support, law and order are being restored to southwestern Syria and conditions are emerging for the population there to return to a peaceful life,” the ministry said.
Russia, the US and Jordan reached an agreement in July 2017 to establish a de-escalation zone in southwestern Syria, including the three provinces of Deraa, Quneitra and As-Suwayda. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Syrian opposition, IS and al-Nusra, with US support, are trying to establish an autonomous district in southern Syria, which could divide the country.