“First Responder” White Helmets Reemerge as Experts in Defusing Explosives in Syria’s Afrin

Defusing explosives and mines, as the White Helmets say they’ve done in Afrin, is normally performed by specialized military experts, not paramedic first-responders who have claimed – falsely – to have been trained by the Red Cross.

Featured image: A member of the White Helmets works a skidsteer emblazoned with the White Helmets logo in the recently captured city of Afrin, Syria. (Source: The White Helmets/Twitter)

After being banned by the Kurds in 2015, the White Helmets – the controversial “humanitarian” group that exclusively accompanies particular Western and Turkish-backed terrorist groups – have announced their return to the city of Afrin. The move follows the city’s takeover by the Turkish military and Turkish-backed rebels linked to terrorist groups, such as the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The group had originally been banned from Afrin by the Kurds due to their association with extremist groups like FSA and others.

That takeover, part of “Operation Olive Branch,” was launched by Turkey in response to the U.S.’ plan to create a 30,000-man “border force” consisting of recruits from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Turkey was outraged by the plan, as the SDF is largely Kurdish and has “substantial ties” to the People’s Protection Unit (YPG), an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been engaged in armed conflicts with Turkey since 1984. Turkey has long considered the PKK and the YPG to be “terrorists.”

Since Turkish forces and their proxies took over the city, in fighting that some reports say killed around 500 civilians, reports of ethnic cleansing have surfaced. Members of Turkish proxy forces, such as the FSA, have threatened to massacre Afrin’s majority Kurdish population unless they convert to the variant of far-right Wahhabi Islam shared by terror groups like Daesh (ISIS) and al-Qaeda. Such demands often precede the mass-murder of ethnic and religious minorities by foreign-funded terrorist groups operating in Syria.

However, the White Helmets, despite their often-touted “humanitarian” leanings, have failed to make any public comment on the killings. Such silence is unsurprising for those who have followed the White Helmets’ actions in Syria over the years, where they have aided terrorist groups in the execution of civilians and have used children – both dead and alive – as props for pro-intervention propaganda intended to benefit the groups’ bids to topple the Syrian government.

Do they even know how to apply a bandage?

In addition, the organization’s documented lack of paramedic expertise has buoyed claims made by several journalists, such as independent journalist Vanessa Beeley, that the White Helmets were trained by British ex-mercenary James Le Mesurier as a “military group” also instructed in “publicity craft.”

Recent praise for the White Helmets in Afrin, coming from Turkish state media, provides further evidence that the White Helmets are a propaganda construct and not a first-responder group. According to reports, the White Helmets – which were actually founded in Turkey — have been “defusing the numerous mines and explosives” found in and around the city. One report cites Ismail Nassan, a White Helmet member, who stated that “lots of mines have been planted [in Afrin]. We have defused most of them.” Defusing explosives and mines is normally performed by specialized military experts, not paramedic first-responders who have claimed – falsely – to have been trained by the Red Cross.

The White Helmets’ reappearance in Afrin, alongside groups that have called on video for the ethnic cleansing of Kurds in the city, is just the latest example illustrating how the organization is paraded around to provide logistical support for — and improve the public image abroad of — those groups that seek to wipe out Syria’s ethnic and religious diversity as well as its independence from the U.S. and its allies.

*

Whitney Webb is a staff writer for MintPress News who has written for several news organizations in both English and Spanish; her stories have been featured on ZeroHedge, the Anti-Media, and 21st Century Wire among others. She currently lives in Southern Chile.


Order Mark Taliano’s Book “Voices from Syria directly from Global Research.  

Taliano talks and listens to the people of Syria. He reveals the courage and resilience of a Nation and its people in their day to day lives, after more than six years of US-NATO sponsored terrorism and three years of US “peacemaking” airstrikes.

Mark Taliano combines years of research with on-the-ground observations to present an informed and well-documented analysis that refutes  the mainstream media narratives on Syria. 

Voices from Syria 

ISBN: 978-0-9879389-1-6

Author: Mark Taliano

Year: 2017

Pages: 128 (Expanded edition: 1 new chapter)

List Price: $17.95

Special Price: $9.95 

Click to order


Articles by: Whitney Webb

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: [email protected]