White Helmets

With Syria's White Helmets about to receive the Tipperary Peace Prize, a TPQ piece by Alec McCrory from 2016 raises serious concerns about the body.



The organisation has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and this has caused consternation in many quarters. The reason for the concern is the well documented involvement of the White Helmets in brazen and brutal acts of violence and torture against captured Syrian soldiers and civilians.

Three investigative journalists who went to Aleppo to monitor the activities of this group exposed its real role as a actor in the war on the side of the anti-government forces. Their accounts of subterfuge and gross misrepresentation revealed the propaganda that surrounds the organisation.

Footage supplied by the White Helmets of alleged attacks carried out by the government were often shown to have been manufactured for mass public consumption. The western cable news networks carry these images without question as to their accuracy and/or veracity.

Simply put, the White Helmets are a proxy group supported by the Americans and it's regional allies. It is being used to create the impression that the humanitarian crisis is the sole responsibility of the government and the Russians.

The truth is that the White Helmets work hand in glove with the Islamist insurgents and many of its members are armed. For this reason, it can only be found to be operating in the rebel held parts of Aleppo and nowhere else. It calls for the overthrow of the government and opposes Russia.