For many, this comes as no surprise. For some, it will shatter their entire worldview, but Israel had aided in getting hundreds of members of the Islamic terror group known as the White Helmets out of Syria, along with their families.
The official IDF Twitter account acknowledged their role and who asked them to do it.
“Following an Israeli Government directive and at the request of the United States and additional European countries, the IDF recently completed a humanitarian effort to rescue members of a Syrian civil organization and their families.“
Following an Israeli Government directive and at the request of the United States and additional European countries, the IDF recently completed a humanitarian effort to rescue members of a Syrian civil organization and their families
The civilians were evacuated from the war zone in Southern Syria due to an immediate threat to their lives. The transfer of the displaced Syrians through Israel is an exceptional humanitarian gesture
Evacuation of white helmets plus families still ongoing here at syrian israeli border. Plan is to drive asap to jordan. @BILDpic.twitter.com/KcBOdduM2t
The Jerusalem Post notes that though the Jordanian government early on acknowledged it would initially host the displaced group, Israel had to keep its role hidden throughout the transfer.
“Neither the AP report nor the Jordanian government statement mention Israel. This points to the fact that Israel’s role was considered controversial and that the method of the evacuation had to be kept under wraps until it was complete,” according to the Jerusalem Post report.
Meanwhile a number of journalists and analysts asked the obvious million dollar question: “Why evacuation specifically for just this group and its families?” Why not other civilians?”
First I heard of this, suddenly there are 800 "White Helmets and families" being evacuated from Syria? I find this surprising. 800 people would require dozens of buses, right? And where do they go? Why specifically just this group and its families? Why not other civilians? https://t.co/cKfWpWqHH9
As we’ve detailed many times before both the West and the group’s leadership have long claimed it’s nothing but a humanitarian non-governmental organization (NGO) devoted to rescuing Syrians in the midst of war; however, far from being a “neutral” NGO the group has from its conception been funded by Western governments which have simultaneously sought the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while only operating in anti-Assad “rebel” territory, including still in al-Qaeda held Idlib.
With today’s Israeli rescue operation giving greater clarity to the nature of the group fundamentally being a foreign-created and foreign sponsored entity, a number of mainstream media outlets are now for the first time casually and belatedly referencing this fact.
CBS for example writes, “The officials said the White Helmets, who have enjoyed backing from the United States and other Western nations for years, were likely to be targeted by Syrian forces as they retook control of the southwest.”
The group receives funding from a number of governments, including Britain, Germany and the United States, but also solicits individual donations to purchase equipment such as its signature hard hats.
In a follow-up report, Zero Hedge provided this information.
First, what we find most striking and woefully under-reported in international media is that the fact that armed groups immediately set fire to Quneitra crossing on the Syrian side of the border the morning just after the White Helmets passed through it to the Israeli side.
The Syrian side of Quneitra crossing in the Golan burns on Sunday, just after armed groups as well as the White Helmets and their families left the area. Image source: Haaretz
The post acts as the only crossing between Syrian territories and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and was formerly run by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). There is over a mile in distance between the Syrian and Israeli sides of the crossing.
Middle East-based Al Masdar News reported Monday that the crossing was used by Nusra militants (also called Jabhat Fatah al-Sham/JFS, or Syrian al-Qaeda) to store weapons, ammunition and various supplies provided by Israeli Army, suggesting that its destruction by al-Qaeda and FSA fighters may have been an attempt at concealing the extent of their external state sponsorship by the Israelis.
Sky News Arabia also confirmed that Nusra Front was the group responsible in its live broadcast Sunday morning:
Some 422 persons were evacuated, but according to a statement from the White Helmets, there are still 3,750 members of the group still on the ground in Syria.
In fact, you might be interested to know that the White Helmets were not founded by Syrians, but by a British mercenary, James Le Mesurier, in 2013.
Here is Mesurier in a speech in 2015 explaining how the White Helmets are used to gain public trust.
In a very informative piece by Whitney Webb at Mint Press News on Le Mesurier, she writes, “The group has been lauded for its “humanitarian” efforts in Syria, but they have actually functioned more as a logistics and propaganda arm of Syria’s al-Qaeda branch, complete with training from Le Mesurier.”
Since they were founded in 2013, much of Western media has sought to elevate the White Helmets as the “bravest” and most heroic of Syrians. They have been the subject of a Netflix documentary, which won an Oscar, and has consistently been plastered across TV screens in surprisingly well-produced videos showing them removing children from rubble in war-torn areas claimed by Syria’s “rebels.”
However, missing from this unambiguously positive coverage has been the group’s ties to terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, their doctoring of footage, their role in executing civilians and their use of children – both dead and alive – as props for producing pro-intervention propaganda. Also absent is how the White Helmets have received over $123 million from 2013 to 2016 from the U.S. and UK governments, as well as Western NGOs and Gulf state monarchies.
While numerous articles have been devoted to dispelling the propaganda that surrounds the group and detailing their shady ties to known terrorist organizations like Syria’s al-Qaeda branch Al-Nusra Front, significantly less attention has been focused on how the group was created, particularly on the man who founded them – James Le Mesurier, a British private security specialist, and former British military intelligence officer.
So, as the Trump administration continues to unconstitutionally fund these jihadis, we now have Israel right out in the open helping them to safety. If something doesn’t smell fishy to you, it’s because you have no sense of smell.
The trouble going on in Syria is not coming from Bashar al-Asaad. It’s coming from the West and its allies.
