Lights, Action and War Propaganda: Al-Jazeera Releases White Helmets Video on Alleged Chemical Attack in Douma After Trump Says “It’s Time” for U.S. Forces to Leave Syria

Al-Jazeera (who was recently forced to register as a propaganda agent of the Qatari government under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in the U.S.) looks like they want to get on the good side of the Washington establishment has released a video on what it seems to be a staged chemical weapons attack in the Eastern Ghouta city of Douma. According to an Al-Jazeera report who was the first to release the video of the alleged chemical attack said the following:

A chemical attack in Douma, the last rebel-held stronghold near Syria’s capital, Damascus, has killed at least 70 people and affected hundreds, rescue workers have told Al Jazeera. The White Helmets, a group of rescuers operating in opposition-held areas in Syria, said on Saturday that most of the fatalities were women and children. 

“Seventy people suffocated to death and hundreds are still suffocating,” Raed al-Saleh, head of the White Helmets, told Al Jazeera, adding that the death toll was expected to rise as many people were in critical condition. Al-Saleh said that chlorine gas and an unidentified but stronger gas were dropped on Douma. “White Helmet volunteers are trying to help the people but all that we can do is evacuate them to another area by foot because most of the vehicles and centres went out of service” 

It does seem that The White Helmets has staged another fake video blaming the Assad government for the chemical attack in Douma and in an important note, has never blamed the U.S. backed rebels (or should be properly be called terrorists) in any past chemical attacks on civilians.  Sputnik news.com made a good point on the White Helmets and the victims of the recent chemical attack in the video

“However, the rescuers appeared to be so focused on accusing President Bashar al-Assad of dropping a chemical bomb on Douma that they forgot to put on gas masks or protective suits themselves.”

RT News reported:

The Russian military has found no trace of chemical weapons use after searching parts of Syria’s Douma allegedly targeted by an “attack.” Photos of victims posted by the White Helmets are fake, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. Experts in radiological, chemical and biological warfare, as well as medics, on Monday inspected the parts of the Eastern Ghouta city of Douma, where an alleged chemical attack supposedly took place on Saturday, the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria said in a statement.

The specialists “found no traces of the use of chemical agents” after searching the sites, the statement said. The center’s medical specialists also visited a local hospital but found no patients that showed signs of chemical weapons poisoning. “All these facts show… that no chemical weapons were used in the town of Douma, as it was claimed by the White Helmets,” the statement said, referring to the controversial “civil defense” group that was among the first to report about the alleged attack. “All the accusations brought by the White Helmets, as well as their photos… allegedly showing the victims of the chemical attack, are nothing more than a yet another piece of fake news and an attempt to disrupt the ceasefire,” the Reconciliation Center said

What was interesting is was what happened earlier this month when U.S. President Donald Trump made a comment on the U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria when he said

“So we’re going to be making a decision. We’ve had a tremendous military success against ISIS as you know. It is close to 100% as I just said. And we’ll be making a decision as to what we do in the very near future. We’ll be consulting also with the groups of our people and groups of our allies.”

Trump went on to say that 

I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation.”

Then the alleged chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta city of Douma happens and Trump changes his tone.

Trump was just tweeting nonsense because he is clearly not in charge when it comes to foreign policy. According to CNN

 “Spokesperson Heather Nauert said that she had not seen the comments but was not aware of any plan for the US to pull out.”

According to CNBC, another mainstream media (MSM) business news television channel “Trump wants to ‘get out’ of Syria, but US military and national security advisors say ISIS isn’t defeated yet” regarding Trump’s statement on pulling U.S. troops out of Syria:

Contrary to Trump’s statements, Brett McGurk, the U.S. special envoy for the global coalition against ISIS, told a forum Tuesday that the U.S. mission in Syria was far from over. “We are in Syria to fight ISIS. That is our mission, and our mission isn’t over, and we are going to complete that mission,” McGurk said 

CNBC also mentioned Army Gen. Joseph Votel who had practically the same answer on Trump’s statement:

Echoing those sentiments, Army Gen. Joseph Votel, who oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East as the head of Central Command, said that while the presence of ISIS in the region had diminished, “it is not gone.” 

Votel estimated that more than 90 percent of the terror group’s territory had been recovered by U.S.-backed forces. He added that the next step for the approximately 2,000 U.S.troops in Syria would be to help stabilize the region. “The hard part, I think, is in front of us, and that is stabilizing these areas, consolidating our gains, getting people back into their homes,” Votel said alongside McGurk 

The Hill reported on Trump’s meeting with his national security team ‘Trump clashes with military in Syria pullout push’ which shows how much power the president has over his military advisers:

On Tuesday, he reiterated, “I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home.”  Later on Tuesday, Trump met with his national security team. By Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that “the United States and our partners remain committed to eliminating the small ISIS presence in Syria that our forces have not already eradicated.” 

Still, Sanders said the military mission “is coming to a rapid end, with ISIS being almost completely destroyed.” The Pentagon on Thursday asserted that plans for Syria haven’t changed, denying that Trump set a six-month timeline during the meeting with his national security team. 

“The president has actually been very good in not giving us a specific timeline, so that’s a tool that we can use to our effect as we move forward,” Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff, said during a briefing. “We’ve always thought that as we reach finality against ISIS in Syria, we’re going to adjust the level of our presence there. So in that sense, nothing actually has changed.” But before Trump’s proclamation, military and diplomatic officials had spoken for months about the need for a long-term military commitment in Syria 

Now, another chemical attack has taken place in the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma, an enclave that was held by U.S. supported rebels (who are affiliated with members from ISIS and other terrorist networks) as CNN reported:

US President Donald Trump warned Sunday of a “big price to pay” in Syria after a suspected chemical attack on the last rebel-held town in Eastern Ghouta left scores dead and injured. Dozens of Syrians were killed and hundreds of others were affected by the attack on Douma, on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, rescue workers and an aid group said Sunday. 

Anti-government activists claimed Syrian military helicopters dropped barrel bombs filled with chemicals on the town on Saturday night, suffocating some residents and sending others into violent convulsions

Trump tweeted

“Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria. Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world. President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price…”

Trump is now following the Pentagon’s script with the familiar accusations of Assad has gassed his people when Syrian forces are gaining ground against US -backed rebels in Eastern Ghouta. The Butcher of Damascus must be at it again. He never learns.  Assad is a mad man, a crazed psychopath who gasses his own people after he gains control over disputed territories and on the way to victory. It’s ludicrous, in fact it is ridiculous to believe Washington and the MSM’s manufactured propaganda to oust Assad.

Russia and Syria Knew that a chemical attack was going to be carried out by the terrorists was Inevitable. What is interesting about trump’s tweet is how he Capped the word “CHEMICAL” attack in Syria, code word for Washington, Israel (we should never forget Israel’s role) and the MSM to accuse Assad of another chemical attack on his people to the international community in a push for war. France and the UK are already on board to join U.S. forces to remove Assad by force. Sputnik News reported back on March 19th that the Russian government was warned by a resident from Eastern Ghouta that terrorists were planning a chemical attack in the near future:

The Russian Center for Syrian reconciliation said Monday it had received information that terrorists in Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta were preparing a possible provocation involving the use of chemical warfare agents. According to the center’s commander Maj. Gen. Yuri Yevtushenko, a resident of Eastern Ghouta called the center’s “hotline” on Monday to report that Nusra Front* militants had installed on a roof of a building and tested a turbine, placing tightly sealed containers with poisonous substances nearby. 

“The caller said he believed that terrorists can use these preparations to disperse toxic substances in residential areas, which will lead to a large number of casualties among the local residents. The mass poisoning of civilians will be used to accuse the government troops of the use of chemical weapons against peaceful citizens,” Yevtushenko stressed 

The Syrian Government responded to the chemical attacks that took place in Douma:

Foreign Ministry: Allegations of using chemical weapons unconvincing stereotype

A source at Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said on Sunday that allegations of using chemical weapons have become an unconvincing stereotype, except for some countries which traffic with the blood of civilians and support terrorism in Syria.

Every time the Syrian Arab Army advances in combatting terrorism, the allegations of using chemical weapons emerge as a pretext to prolong the presence of terrorists in Douma, the source added.

“The pretext of using chemicals in Ghouta was pre-planned and there is documented and confirmed information about this against which the Syrian state has previously warned,” the source said. A number of misleading media outlets and those that speak by the name of terrorist organizations have launched a campaign to accuse the Syrian Arab Army of using chemical weapons during operations against terrorists in Duma, followed by a US-led Western political campaign to justify any hostile moves against Syria aimed at supporting terrorists and preventing them from collapsing

Then the State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert quickly released a statement blaming the Assad government and Russia without any proven evidence (only a video provided by Al-Jazeera starring the discredited White Helmets who are closely associated with terrorist organizations such as ISIS and Jebbah al-Nusra). The State Department made sure to add Assad’s history of allegedly “using chemical weapons against his own people” mantra in the statement:

We continue to closely follow disturbing reports on April 7 regarding another alleged chemical weapons attack, this time targeting a hospital in Douma, Syria. Reports from a number of contacts and medical personnel on the ground indicate a potentially high number of casualties, including among families hiding in shelters. These reports, if confirmed, are horrifying and demand an immediate response by the international community.

The United States continues to use all efforts available to hold those who use chemical weapons, in Syria and otherwise, accountable. The regime’s history of using chemical weapons against its own people is not in dispute, and in fact nearly one year ago on April 4, 2017, Assad’s forces conducted a sarin gas attack on Khan Sheikhoun, which killed approximately 100 Syrians.

The Assad regime and its backers must be held accountable and any further attacks prevented immediately. Russia, with its unwavering support for the regime, ultimately bears responsibility for these brutal attacks, targeting of countless civilians, and the suffocation of Syria’s most vulnerable communities with chemical weapons. By shielding its ally Syria, Russia has breached its commitments to the United Nations as a framework guarantor. It has betrayed the Chemical Weapons Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 2118. Russia’s protection of the Assad regime and failure to stop the use of chemical weapons in Syria calls into question its commitment to resolving the overall crisis and to larger non-proliferation priorities.

The United States calls on Russia to end this unmitigated support immediately and work with the international community to prevent further, barbaric chemical weapons attacks

The Rush to Judgment on Behalf of the Military-Industrial Complex

Trump was scheduled to meet with his war cabinet and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is also meeting to discuss Syria in New York. According to The Daily Mail ‘Trump will decide whether to strike Syria after emergency UN Security Council meeting and top-brass military briefing about chemical weapons attack’ reported on what several lawmakers in Washington had recently said concerning the alleged chemical attack in Douma:

Sen. Lindsay Graham this morning said that Assad should be classified as a war criminal, and Trump ought to totally destroy his air force. ‘The world is watching the president, Iran is watching the president, Russia is watching the president and North Korea’s watching the president,’ the GOP lawmaker who has Trump’s ear said. ‘This president has a chance to do exactly the opposite of Obama: send a strong signal that there’s a new sheriff in town and America’s back’ 

Both Democrats and Republicans including the outspoken warmonger, Senator John McCain who called for the continued U.S. occupation suggesting that Trump should not to pull out of Syria according to The Daily Mail article:

After the weekend chemical attack, lawmakers from both parties were urging Trump not to immediately vacate Syria. Top GOP legislators were demanding new military action. 

‘The President responded decisively when Assad used chemical weapons last year. He should do so again, and demonstrate that Assad will pay a price for his war crimes,’ Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain said. McCain tore into Trump on Sunday for sending mixed signals on Syria that he said ‘emboldened’ Assad and his allies.   

‘President Trump last week signaled to the world that the United States would prematurely withdraw from Syria. Bashar Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers have heard him, and emboldened by American inaction, Assad has reportedly launched another chemical attack against innocent men, women and children,’ McCain charged. ‘Initial accounts show dozens of innocent civilians, including children, have been targeted by this vicious bombardment designed to burn and choke the human body and leave victims writhing in unspeakable pain.’  McCain said Assad’s brutal regime had killed more than half a million of its people and turned another 11 million into refugees 

The Syrian Opposition has Launched Chemical Attacks in the Past with Help from the U.S., But This Time, it was a Staged Attack

Trump was never going to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria because it is a key Iranian ally in the region. The U.S., Israel, Saudi Arabia and other Western allies want to remove Assad and destabilize Syria so that the military can focus on a future conflict against Iran. Now the Trump White house is considering airstrikes against the Assad government according to CNN:

Secretary of Defense James Mattis said that he wouldn’t rule out anything in regards to how to respond to another reported chemical weapons attack by the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.  While speaking to reporters Monday, Mattis blasted Russia over its role to oversee the removal of chemical weapons from Syria due to a past agreement struck in 2013. The latest attack over the weekend reportedly killed dozens of people in a rebel-held suburb of Damascus.

“Can you rule out taking action, launching airstrikes against Assad, Mr. Secretary?” a reporter asked.  “I don’t rule out anything right now,” Mattis said

Earlier today, Trump tweeted

“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it! “

So Assad enjoys killing his people with gas?

Will Trump move forward with a military strike against the Assad government? How will Syria, Iran and Russia respond if Trump and his war cabinet decide to launch another missile strike against the Syrian government? Last year Trump ordered 59 tomahawk missile strikes inside Syria that targeted airfield were the Syrian government allegedly had launched the chemical attack on in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, a rebel-held area last April. TASS, the Russian News Agency reported on what Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had said during Monday’s press conference:

Russia advocates a fair investigation into the alleged chemical attacks in Syria, and is strongly against assigning anyone the blame without finding any proof, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during Monday’s press conference.  “We are in total support of a fair and immediate investigation, when they ask for it. However, when the investigation is intended to come at a predetermined point – that is, it was done by Assad with Putin’s support – there are no grounds for a serious discussion,” he noted. 

“We had already commented on this situation before it became a reality,” the top diplomat stressed. “Our military currently in Syria and the Syrian government have warned countless times that a serious provocation is being concocted, aimed at blaming Damascus for using chemical weapons against civilians” 

Is Washington and the MSM listening? No. Why? They knew what was going to happen because they have given the terrorists all the necessary weapons and supplies over the years to carry out such attacks. In April 2017, Professor Michel Chossudovsky, the editor of Global Research published ‘Pentagon Trained Syria’s Al Qaeda “Rebels” in the Use of Chemical Weapons, Confirmed by CNN’ pointing out who was actually training the U.S. backed rebels in the use of chemical weapons:

In a twisted logic, the Pentagon’s mandate was to ensure that the rebels aligned with Al Qaeda would not acquire or use WMD, by actually training them in the use of chemical weapons (sounds contradictory):

Moreover, in an earlier report dated December 9 2012, CNN confirms that:

“The training [in chemical weapons], which is taking place in Jordan and Turkey, involves how to monitor and secure stockpiles and handle weapons sites and materials, according to the sources. Some of the contractors are on the ground in Syria working with the rebels to monitor some of the sites, according to one of the officials. 

The nationality of the trainers was not disclosed, though the officials cautioned against assuming all are American. (CNN, December 09, 2012, emphasis added) 

The CNN story ‘Sources: U.S. helping underwrite Syrian rebel training on securing chemical weapons’ also points to Jordan ‘s participation in the training exercise:

One of the aims, the sources said, is to try to get real time surveillance of the sites because the international community would not have time to prevent the use of the weapons otherwise. The program could explain how U.S. intelligence was able to learn what U.S. officials said was evidence the Assad government is mixing precursors for chemical weapons and loading those compounds into bombs. The intelligence, one U.S. official told CNN last week, came not just from satellite surveillance, but also from information provided by people. The official would not say whether the human intelligence came from telephone intercepts, defectors or people inside Syria.

The U.S. military is also working with neighboring Jordan’s military to train for the potential need to secure chemical weapons sites. But U.S. troops cannot train rebel forces because the United States has only authorized nonlethal aid for the opposition

So CNN states that “U.S. troops cannot train rebel forces because the United States has only authorized nonlethal aid for the opposition”? That was a lie. The Israeli-based newspaper, Haaretz, admitted years later in a June 7th, 2014 article titled ‘U.S. Admits Supplying Lethal Aid to Syrian Rebels’ that Washington was in fact providing lethal and non-lethal support to the Syrian rebels:

“Washington is providing both “lethal and non-lethal” support to members of the Syrian opposition, U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice said on Friday, according to Saudi-owned TV channel al-Arabiya.” Susan Rice’s spokesperson at the time, Caitlin Hayden “later declined to say whether Rice’s openness on U.S. assistance reflected a new policy initiative. “We’re not in a position to detail all of our assistance, but as we’ve made clear, we provide both military and non-military assistance to the opposition,” Hayden said. 

The U.S. backed terrorists now operating in Syria have the means to conduct a false-flag attack, however, this time the chemical Weapons attack was a staged event.

Syria will be Trump’s War

The fake chemical attack on the Eastern Ghouta city of Douma is being used as a staging ground to blame President Bashar al-Assad (who does not have no political motive to attack “his own people”) especially when the Syrian army is gaining momentum in defeating ISIS and other terrorist groups. Russia has warned the international community last month that a false flag chemical attack was going to happen and it did, but it was a fake chemical attack staged by the Oscar-wining “White Helmets.” The Trump administration and the Military-Industrial complex never had any intention of withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria. The main objective is to remove Assad, then in coordination with Israel, Hezbollah and then Lebanon before moving on to the main adversary, Iran. The Trump administration’s main course of action against Syria is the continued support of its rebel forces and giving Israel the green light to carry-out missile strikes to further destabilize Syria. It will lead to World War III. Humanity is in the cross hairs.

Trump and his war cabinet look like they have already decided a plan of action against Syria, because at this point in time, peace seems out of the question. Peace was never on the table for the ruling American Empire. A US-Israeli led war is for the geopolitical control over the Middle East and its abundant natural resources. It will also allow Israel to expand its territory beyond its borders also known as The Yinon Plan which is an Israeli strategic plan to become the regional superpower through what we can call “the balkanization” of its Arab neighbors and turning them into weak states that cannot defend themselves against Israel’s military power which has nuclear weapons in its arsenal.

If Syria and the rest of their neighbors are destabilized, it will make it much easier for Israel’s military to control and dominate the Middle East politically and militarily. The U.S. and Israel along with Saudi Arabia want to control the Middle East and that won’t happen until Syria, Lebanon, Hezbollah and Iran are taken out of the equation but with Russia and China in the picture, it will be practically impossible to achieve.  The long war has practically begun.

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This article was originally published on Silent Crow News.

Timothy Alexander Guzman is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from the author.


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About the author:

Timothy Alexander Guzman is an independent researcher and writer with a focus on political, economic, media and historical spheres. He has been published in Global Research, The Progressive Mind, European Union Examiner, News Beacon Ireland, WhatReallyHappened.com, EIN News and a number of other alternative news sites. He is a graduate of Hunter College in New York City.

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