White Helmets

''In reality the White Helmets is a project created by the UK and USA. Training of civilians in Turkey has been overseen by former British military officer and current contractor, James Le Mesurier. Promotion of the program is done by “The Syria Campaign” supported by the foundation of billionaire Ayman Asfari. The White Helmets is clearly a public relations project which has received glowing publicity from HuffPo to Nicholas Kristof at the NYT. White Helmets have been heavily promoted by the U.S. Institute of Peace (U.S.IP) whose leader began the press conference by declaring “U.S.IP has been working for the Syrian Revolution from the beginning”.''

''Apart from the PR work, White Helmets work in areas of Aleppo and Idlib controlled by Nusra (Al Queda).

''US and UK tax dollars pay for a program which has an appealing rescue component and is then used to market and promote the USA and UK policy of regime change in Syria in de facto alliance with Nusra.

''The fake “independence and neutrality” of White Helmets is shown by their active promotion of a No Fly Zone.
 * — Rick Sterling in About Those Chlorine Gas Attacks in Syria - Humanitarians for War, part 2 (Counterpunch, April 3, 2015)

''During my time in Hanano East #Aleppo I spoke with many civilians who had been liberated from their four year imprisonment by NATO and Gulf state terrorist brigades. I asked them all if they knew of the #WhiteHelmets. All of them looked puzzled and most of them replied that no they did not know them at all.

''Some said they knew of the workers who called themselves "civil defence" and worked with the terrorists. I asked if they also helped civilians, one man only said that yes sometimes they did help him and his family.

''I interviewed the Syrian Arab Red Crescent workers who were on the scene in Hanano. They had never come across the White Helmets in all the time they had been working in East Aleppo since the area was invaded and occupied in 2012.

''I have been told that no White Helmet operatives have accepted amnesty so this raises the question...where exactly are the White Helmets? If they were truly a neutral, impartial organisation working for all humanity, why were they not out in force helping civilians to escape to safety?

''One leader of a special National Guard unit allied with the SAA told me tonight that during the battles for Ramousa, they had found one militant who had three ID cards in his pockets. ''One from Turkey, one from Nusra Front and one White Helmet ID card.

''It seems the farce that is the White Helmets is coming to an end...
 * — Vanessa Beeley, reporting from Aleppo, December 13, 2016

Terrorist connections
On April 27, 2016, State Department spokesman Mark Toner praised the group in a daily press briefing, claiming it has saved 40,000 lives. Asked why, if the group is so wonderful, ten days earlier their leader Ra'ed Al Saleh had his visa revoked and was sent back to Turkey when he tried to enter the US to receive a humanitarian award, Toner refused to make comments on specific visas but pointed out that if individuals have ties to extremist groups, this doesn't destroy the quality of work of other groups they might belong to. He mentioned that the "White Helmets" have received $US 23 million through USAID.

Critical analysis

 * EXCLUSIVE: The REAL Syria Civil Defence Expose Nato’s ‘White Helmets’ as Terrorist-Linked Imposters, Vanessa Beeley, September 23, 2016 (part 1 in a 2-part series)
 * Quoted in commenters response to John Kerry tweet "When bombs explode in Syria, the White Helmets are the brave 1st responders on the scene. Honored to meet their leader & #Aleppo activists."- And Reagan-Taliban photo, too.
 * Rusvesna collected some past photos and videos giving an insight part1 part 2, September 29-30, 2016
 * Newsmaker: The White Helmets, The National (from UAE(!)), September 29, 2016
 * Inside the Shadowy PR Firm That’s Lobbying for Regime Change in Syria, Max Blumenthal, October 3, 2016
 * Detailed investigation into "The Syria Campaign" including interesting details about the main donor Ayman Asfari, "the U.K.-based CEO of the British oil and gas supply company Petrofac Limited." Part I of II.
 * "CrossTalk" White helmets, really? - CrossTalk, October 7, 2016
 * Syria’s “White Helmets”: Fiction and Reality - Ahmad Salah, Global Research, October 14, 2016
 * The White Helmets provide military aid | Opinion - Brad Blankenship, AMN, April 22, 2017
 * Inside the Conspiracy Theory That Turned Syria’s First Responders Into Terrorists - Wired, April 30, 2017
 * ''While the White Helmets might seem like the poster children for feel-bad humanitarianism, they’ve in fact become the target of a internet smear campaign, one designed to bolster the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and undermine its opponents, including the United States. Various White Helmet “truthers”—who range from Assad and his supporters to Russian embassies, and even to Alex Jones—accuse the group of staging rescue photos, belonging to al Qaeda, and being pawns of liberal bogeyman George Soros. The story of how that conspiracy grew is a perfect distillation of how disinformation can spread unchecked, supplanting fact with frenzy where no support exists.

Douma

 * 50 civilians reported killed in Douma after Syrian army rocket attack - RT, 23 Aug, 2015
 * ''“There are entire families still under the rubble. We couldn't reach them yet, because as you know the process of removing debris must be done with extreme caution," an official, from a civil defense group operating in rebel-held areas, told the Majd agency.


 * Monitor: Fresh Syrian air raids kill dozens in Douma - Al Jazeera, 23 Aug 2015
 * ''The death toll is expected to rise, with Syria's Civil Defence, a local NGO, saying they are still rescuing people from under the rubble.
 * ''In a statement released on Saturday night, the Syrian Civil Defence organisation said airs raids on Douma over the past week have killed more than 200 people and wounded more than 400 others - mostly women and children.
 * ''The group called upon international organisations and human rights groups to act immediately as it declared Douma as a "disaster town".

Nobel Peace Prize campaign

 * News ‘It is not the Nobel we long for most, but peace itself’: The White Helmets react to missing out on peace prize - Bethan McKernan, The Independent, October 7, 2016

Oscar
Movie promoting WH was nominated for Oscar. 'America bans Syrian behind Oscar-nominated film'- BBC, Feb. 25, 2017
 * Won Oscar...

#MannequinChallenge leak

 * Syria's White Helmets apologize for Mannequin Challenge video - Eliza Mackintosh, CNN, November 25, 2016