Disinfo: Syrian rebels and the White Helmets are preparing a chemical provocation in Syria

Summary

The Syrian rebels and their White Helmets allies are preparing a provocation with the use of chemicals in Syria to blame the Syrian authorities.

Disproof

This claim involves unfounded speculation, based on no supporting evidence, to smear the White Helmets, a humanitarian organisation and frequent target of pro-Kremlin disinformation, and Syrian opposition forces. This case involves a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative portraying the White Helmets as a Western-backed terrorist proxy and, implicitly, denying the responsibility of the Assad regime for chemical attacks perpetrated during the Syrian civil war.

The UN-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism found Syria’s government responsible for the April 2017 attack in Khan Shaykhun. On April 2018, Russia vetoed a US-drafted UN Security Council resolution that would have created a new inquiry to ascertain responsibility for chemical weapons attacks in Syria. In June 2018, the OPCW members granted it the power to assign responsibility for chemical attacks.

The UN Human Rights Council stated that Syrian government forces were responsible for the Khan Shaykhun attack. “Government forces continued to deliberately target civilians, including through the use of chemical weapons against civilians in opposition-held areas. As part of an aerial campaign in northern Hama and southern Idlib, on 4 April the Syrian air force used sarin in Khan Sheikhoun, killing over 80 people, most of whom were women and children,” says the report. Syrian government forces and their ally Russia continue to deny these facts.

See here for more information about the disinformation campaign against the White Helmets. Read similar cases claiming that the White Helmets used chemical weapons in Syria in order to accuse the Assad government and that the White Helmets have close links to Al-Qaeda and falsify chemical attacks evidence.

Go to search

publication/media

it.sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 184
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 27/01/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Italian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Syria
  • Keywords: White Helmets, Chemical weapons/attack, Terrorism, Syrian War
see more

Disinfo: Baltic States ignored the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz

The Baltic States ignored the international forum in Jerusalem devoted to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. They probably did it to avoid shame, given their support to nationalist Nazi collaborators.

Jan 26, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Nazi/Fascist Baltic States. The Baltic States did not ignore the commemoration of the Holocaust victims. Lithuanian and Latvian presidents attended the ceremony to commemorate the victims of Holocaust in Poland. Lithuanian and Latvian speakers of parliament attended the forum in Jerusalem.

Disinfo: Poland's government throws itself into disgusting Holocaust revisionism

As a consequence of the obsession with Russia, Poland’s government throws itself into disgusting Holocaust revisionism. The present Polish government refused to give the Soviet Union any credit for the liberation of Auschwitz and instead insisted that Poland was nothing but an innocent victim of the Nazis and the Soviets.

[Polish president Andrzej] Duda’s Party “Prawo i Sprawiedliwość” (PiS) even lobbied the EU Parliament to present this as a historical fact in a declaration – to the wrath of Russia, where this is seen as spitting on the graves of almost 27 million Soviet citizens who died in the war against the Hitler regime and of about 600,000 soldiers who gave their lives especially for the liberation of Poland.

Warsaw went so far as to completely ignore the 75th anniversary of its liberation from the Nazis and instead to call this day the beginning of the “occupation” by the USSR. The new record-breaking low point, however, was certainly the opinion article published by Politico, in which Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki claimed that the Soviets had deliberately halted Polish advance in the summer of 1944 instead of advancing the liberation of Warsaw or Auschwitz.

Jan 26, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative distorting the events of the World War II.

In his op-ed for Politico, Morawiecki notes that "liberation of Warsaw" is an overgenerous term, particularly in the context of Soviet actions before, during, and after the Second World War.

Disinfo: Crimea was returned to Russia

Bloomberg talks about Putin’s achievements in 20 years. One of these is that Moscow succeeded in returning Crimea to Russia.

Jan 26, 2020
Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the illegal annexation of Crimea.

While the articles make reference to Bloomberg and its recent analysis of Putin's Russia, the later did not write that Crimea returned to Russia, but rather that Russia "annexed Crimea from Ukraine".