DISINFO: White Helmets about to use chemical weapons near Idlib and Aleppo as they did before

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

DISINFO: White Helmets about to use chemical weapons near Idlib and Aleppo as they did before

SUMMARY

Al-Nusra Front is preparing to use toxic gas in rural areas near the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Idlib. Terrorists from the group transported several bottles containing toxic products from one of the headquarters of the Turkestan Islamic Party in Jisr al-Shoghour. They transported them in White Helmet ambulances to southern Idlib and western Aleppo.

The White Helmets became a key element of the communication campaign launched in 2013 against the Syrian authorities. In the years that followed, accusations were regularly made, often in cycles that coincided with victories by the Syrian army.

The White Helmets played a provocative role in fabricating a chemical attack attributed to Syrian forces on April 4, 2017 in Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib province. No evidence of Syrian military involvement was produced, but that did not stop the United States from launching a strike against the Syrian airbase at Al-Shayrat three days later.

RESPONSE

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation about imminent chemical attacks in Syria, which often included claims that previous attacks were false flag operations by the White Helmets, aimed at tarnishing the reputation of Damascus.

The claim is made without evidence and follows an established pattern of unsubstantiated accusations regarding the White Helmets’ complicity in chemical attacks in Syria. Available evidence on such attacks has yet to link a single incident to any party other than the Assad regime.

The White Helmets are the subject of recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives on the Syrian civil war, having already been accused of numerous provocations and war crimes, including organ trafficking; aiding terrorist organisations; staging and/or perpetrating chemical attacks, sometimes with the help of Western intelligence agencies.

For more information about the use of the White Helmets in pro-Kremlin disinformation regarding the Syrian war, see here, here, and here.

Read related stories such as: Western and Ukrainian intelligence agencies are preparing false flag chemical weapons attacks in Syria, or Ukrainians are like the Syrian White Helmets & MI6 who bomb hospitals to blame Russia, or Douma chemical attack was a fake staged by NGOs like the White Helmets, or The Terrorist White Helmets Prepare New Provocations in Syria.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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