Thread: RUSSIA CLAIMS HIT ON ISIS SYRIA HQ, BUT ACTIVISTS CLAIM CIVILIANS KILLED IN STRIKES

RUSSIA CLAIMS HIT ON ISIS SYRIA HQ, BUT ACTIVISTS CLAIM CIVILIANS KILLED IN STRIKES

AFP/Getty

by JORDAN SCHACHTEL2 Oct 2015Washington, DC104

Russia claimed Friday that its air force bombed multiple positions held by the Islamic State in Raqqa, a city known as the de facto capital of the jihadi group in Syria.

Amidst complaints that Russian forces continue to bomb U.S.-backed rebels in the region, Moscow said it struck an “IS training camp” in Raqqa on Friday. However, Syrian opposition groups claim that the Russian strikes are killing innocents.
The United States, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia were three of the seven countries who released a joint statement condemning Russian military action in the region.

“These military actions constitute a further escalation and will only fuel more extremism and radicalisation,” the statement read. “We call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians.”

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov continues to insist that Moscow is only targeting the Islamic State, the Nusra Front (an Al Qaeda offshoot), and “other terrorist groups,” reports AFP.

In a statement released on Friday, Russia’s defense ministry said a recent round of strikes targeted ISIS’s “command point of action.”

“The infrastructure used to train terrorists was completely destroyed,” the Russian defense ministry claimed.

And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has backed the Russian claims, stating that Moscow jets did indeed neutralize twelve Islamic State members in Raqqa, the report states.

But the Observatory also claimed that women and children have been killed in the Russian strikes, and that Moscow has now taken out 36 innocent civilians in its air raids.

“Four civilians, including a child and a woman, were killed in raids conducted by Russian military aircraft,” a SOHR statement claimed. “Three other civilians, including a girl and a woman, were killed in bombing by these planes of the village of Habeet.”

Alexei Pushkov, the leader of Russia’s foreign affairs committee in its lower house of parliament, heckled the US-led anti-ISIS campaign for its supposed lack of effectiveness.

Although there have been more than 2,500 air strikes against jihadi fighters in the region, the strikes have failed to stop the Islamic State’s aggression in the region, Pushkov noted.

“I think it’s the intensity that is important. The US-led coalition has pretended to bomb Daesh (the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State) for a year, without results,” he told Europe 1 radio. “If you do it in a more efficient way, I think you’ll see results.”

As for critiques that Russia was simply there to prop up the Assad regime, and had focused the vast majority of its initial attacks on actors other than ISIS, Pushkov responded, “The main target are the Daesh groups situated closest to Damascus.”

http://www.breitbart.com/national-se...illed-strikes/

Soros-Sponsored NGO in Syria Aims at Ousting Assad, Not Saving Civilians

2015/ KARAM AL-MASRI

POLITICS
21:16 08.09.2015(updated 01:54 09.09.2015)

One of the largest humanitarian organizations operating in war-torn Syria - the White Helmets - has been accused of being an anti-government propaganda arm that encourages direct foreign intervention.

In an article for the 21st Century Wire news service, investigative journalist and peace activist Vanesse Beeley says that the White Helmets use search and rescue activities as a cover-up to demonize Syrian President Assad and help terrorists.

The official website of the White Helmets says that its volunteers have already saved more than 20,000 people on all sides of the conflict, adding that the organization is following the principles of humanity, solidarity and impartiality outlined by the International Civil Defense Organization.

However, according to Beeley, the White Helmets and other NGO’s such as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, are used to justify the West’s policy of arming and supporting the insurgency in Syria.

Vanesse Beeley spoke to Sputnik tracing back to the roots of the White Helmets, “If you look at their creation in 2013, they were set up with funding from the UK, USA and Syrian Opposition Party. We immediately have the suspicion that there will be an element of impartiality within the organization.”

“White Helmets demonizes the Assad government and encourages direct foreign intervention. A White Helmet leader wrote a recent Washington Post editorial. White Helmets are also very active on social media with a presence on Twitter, Facebook etc.,” Beeley said.

According to Rick Sterling’s article on the ‘Highly Effective Manipulators, he also elaborated that the “White Helmets is the newly created name for ‘Syrian Civil Defense.’

Despite the name, Syria Civil Defense was not created by Syrians nor does it serve Syria. Civilians from rebel controlled territory were paid to go to Turkey to receive some training in rescue operations. The program was managed by James Le Mesurier, a former British soldier and private contractor whose company is based in Dubai,” Global Research reported.

The claims regarding the number of people trained by the White Helmets and the number of people rescued are quite different. “The numbers are probably highly exaggerated especially since rebel-controlled territories have few civilians. A doctor who recently served in a rebel-controlled area of Aleppo described it as a ghost town.

”The White Helmets work mainly with the rebel group Jabat al Nusra (al-Qaeda in Syria). There are videos of the recent supposed chlorine gas attack which starts with the White Helmet logo and ends with the logo of Nusra. In reality, White Helmets is a small rescue team for Nusra/al-Qaeda, Beeley said.

During her interview with Sputnik she gave further examples of the leaked videos that show that White Helmets do more than just rescue people.

“If we at least start making people question this propaganda and if we make people appreciate that it is a very one sided story that is being portrayed to them, then we are breaking some strangle holds of these narratives,” Beeley told Sputnik.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/politics/2015...#ixzz3nVXshNfm

Originally Posted by Newmexican

Soros-Sponsored NGO in Syria Aims at Ousting Assad, Not Saving Civilians

2015/ KARAM AL-MASRI

POLITICS
21:16 08.09.2015(updated 01:54 09.09.2015)

One of the largest humanitarian organizations operating in war-torn Syria - the White Helmets - has been accused of being an anti-government propaganda arm that encourages direct foreign intervention.

In an article for the 21st Century Wire news service, investigative journalist and peace activist Vanesse Beeley says that the White Helmets use search and rescue activities as a cover-up to demonize Syrian President Assad and help terrorists.

The official website of the White Helmets says that its volunteers have already saved more than 20,000 people on all sides of the conflict, adding that the organization is following the principles of humanity, solidarity and impartiality outlined by the International Civil Defense Organization.

However, according to Beeley, the White Helmets and other NGO’s such as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, are used to justify the West’s policy of arming and supporting the insurgency in Syria.

Vanesse Beeley spoke to Sputnik tracing back to the roots of the White Helmets, “If you look at their creation in 2013, they were set up with funding from the UK, USA and Syrian Opposition Party. We immediately have the suspicion that there will be an element of impartiality within the organization.”

“White Helmets demonizes the Assad government and encourages direct foreign intervention. A White Helmet leader wrote a recent Washington Post editorial. White Helmets are also very active on social media with a presence on Twitter, Facebook etc.,” Beeley said.

According to Rick Sterling’s article on the ‘Highly Effective Manipulators, he also elaborated that the “White Helmets is the newly created name for ‘Syrian Civil Defense.’

Despite the name, Syria Civil Defense was not created by Syrians nor does it serve Syria. Civilians from rebel controlled territory were paid to go to Turkey to receive some training in rescue operations. The program was managed by James Le Mesurier, a former British soldier and private contractor whose company is based in Dubai,” Global Research reported.

The claims regarding the number of people trained by the White Helmets and the number of people rescued are quite different. “The numbers are probably highly exaggerated especially since rebel-controlled territories have few civilians. A doctor who recently served in a rebel-controlled area of Aleppo described it as a ghost town.

”The White Helmets work mainly with the rebel group Jabat al Nusra (al-Qaeda in Syria). There are videos of the recent supposed chlorine gas attack which starts with the White Helmet logo and ends with the logo of Nusra. In reality, White Helmets is a small rescue team for Nusra/al-Qaeda, Beeley said.

During her interview with Sputnik she gave further examples of the leaked videos that show that White Helmets do more than just rescue people.

“If we at least start making people question this propaganda and if we make people appreciate that it is a very one sided story that is being portrayed to them, then we are breaking some strangle holds of these narratives,” Beeley told Sputnik.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/politics/2015...#ixzz3nVXshNfm

Wow! What a find there, Newmexican! Thank you!

Now we know whose thumb we've been under during this 4 years of deadly folly.

When you study the background and history of Assad, none of what we're being told by our government makes any sense. So I've never trusted the position that's he's some "brutal dictator".

Again, our country is under such a siege of our own and being so manipulated that we can't get to the truth about much of anything until after the damage has already been done. That's one of the reasons I have more confidence in the Russians to handle the Syrian mess. They've had long-term relationships with Syria for many many years. Russia has a very important strategic national interest in Syria due to its Mediterranean Naval Based being located in Tartus, Syria, so Russia of course wants a stable well-functioning ally. What we've caused there or at least worsened is absolutely unacceptable, so the Russians will go in there and restore order. That's why they aren't playing this game our government is worrying about what rebel or what terrorist outfit is the "good guys". The Russians know they're all bad.

So we need to just shut up and get out of their way, bring our people home and save our money.