After more White Helmets killed on Saturday, pro-Assad outlets accuse rescuers of planning chemical attacks


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The Assad Regime’s Use of Nerve Agents — New Evidence From Human Rights Watch


Trying to justify the killing of eight Syrian rescuers on Saturday — and possibly to prepare for a resumption of chemical attacks by the Assad regime — pro-Assad outlets are pursuing a blunt propaganda campaign to justify the attacks on medical facilities and civil defense centers.

Iran’s Fars, the outlet of the Revolutionary Guards, posted on Sunday:

The White Helmets [Civil Defense] Organization is getting ready to write another fake scenario similar to the one they practiced in the town of Khan Sheikhoun [the town in Idlib Province in northwest Syria where the Assad regime killed at least 93 people and wounded almost 600 with “sarin or a sarin-like substance”] earlier this month, local sources said Sunday.

The sources reported that several White Helmets along with a number of civilians, including children, have arrived in Ariha in Idlib province.

The sources said that the White Helmets are in Ariha to possibly conduct another false-flag operation similar to Khan Sheikhoun chemical incident to create a fresh wave of accusations against the Syrian government’s involvement in a chemical attack on civilians.

The piece is filled with other disinformation to denigrate the rescuers such as “a large number of the White Helmets along with their partners in Turkey are trading human body-organs in the region”.

“We Call on International Community to Protect Medical Staff”

On Saturday, amid their latest strikes on medical and civil defense facilities, pro-Assad warplanes struck a White Helmets center in Kafrzita in northern Hama Province with “bunker-buster” bombs, killing eight volunteers. A paramedic and a civilian were slain in a follow-up attack to disrupt any rescuer, and another center and the surrounding area were targeted for hours to delay operations until Sunday morning.

See Syria Daily, April 29: Pro-Assad Bombing Kills 8+ White Helmets Rescuers

The White Helmets responded in a statement, describing the assault and naming the victims:

We…call on the international community to act effectively to achieve their duty in protecting rescue volunteers, medical staff, and aid workers who get deliberately targeted on a daily basis.

We consider this statement to be a call for help to protect medical and humanitarian institutions, not to repeat what happened in Aleppo, where it started with the same pattern of destroying hospitals, and ended with the forced displacement of the civilians in front of the whole world.

We promise Syrian people and the world that these crimes will not stop us from continuing out honorable duty to rescue Syrian lives.

Russian and regime warplanes have carried out a systematic campaign, especially in northwest Syria, to decimate infrastructure such as hospitals, clinics, and civil defense centers. The assault has included “bunker buster” and incendiary munitions and a suspected 45 chemical attacks since late 2016.

From the start of the year, almost 40 medical and civil defense facilities have been struck, including 14 in the month of April.

The UN’s independent commission of inquiry on Syria intervened on Sunday via Twitter:

TOP PHOTO: Rescuers and volunteers search for survivors in rubble of White Helmets center, April 28, 2017 (Reuters)


At Least 7 Killed in Bombing of Damascus Suburbs

Local civil defense reports at least 7 people killed, including two children and a woman, by pro-Assad bombing on the Damascus suburbs of Saqba and Hamouriyah.

Photographs show the rescue of children from destroyed buildings:

DAMASCUS SUBURB BOMBING 01-05-17

Another hospital, this one in Erbin, has been damaged in the attacks.

Video of the aftermath:


Protests Amid Rebel In-Fighting Near Damascus

About 1000 protesters marched on Sunday in parts of East Ghouta, near Damascus, amid rebel in-fighting further jeopardizing defenses against a pro-Assad offensive.

Jaish al-Islam and Failaq al-Rahman began fighting last Friday, with elements of the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham bloc — led by the jihadists of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham — supporting the latter faction. Each side blamed the other for the violence, which has reportedly killed sores of fighters, and each has said it wants an end to the conflict.

Jaish al-Islam and Failaq al-Rahman also clashed last year before an uneasy accommodation was reached between the groups. Meanwhile, pro-Assad air and ground assaults led to the capture of much of the East Ghouta region, and attacks are continuing on Damascus suburbs and towns such as Barzeh, Tishreen, Qaboun, and Douma.

Video of gunfire amid protests:

A local source said the firing began a Jaish al-Islam fighter “lost control of his nerves” and began shooting. Other Jaish al-Islam troops fired into the air to disperse the crowd.

Seven protesters were wounded, according to the Ghouta Media Center.

EAST GHOUTA PROTEST 30-04-17


Turkey’s Erdoğan Warns US Over Its Deployment: “We Will Take Matters In Our Own Hands”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has warned that he will not be deterred by a US force deployment in northern Syria to shield the Kurdish militia YPG from Turkey’s attacks.

Last week, the Turkish air force carried out its first airstrikes in northeast Syria, as well as in northern Iraq, against the YPG and the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK. Up to 30 Kurdish fighters were killed and 18 wounded. Cross-border firing and clashes inside a Syrian village on the border followed.

The US criticized the Turkish attacks on “our partners”, the leading element in the American-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, and began moving personnel and armored vehicles to the area.

See Syria Daily, April 29: US Forces to Intervene Between Turkey & Kurdish YPG Militia?

Erdoğan said before leaving for India on Sunday:

We are seriously saddened to see US flags flying in a convoy that has the PYD [the Syrian Kurdistan Democratic Party, which oversees the YPG] terrorist organization’s rags on it. We will mention these issues to Mr. Trump during our visit to the U.S. on May 16. Unless we take joint action today against terror, it hits others tomorrow….

This needs to be stopped right now. Otherwise, this problem in the region will continue to be present and bother us as two NATO countries and strategic partners. Then, as I always say, we will have to take matters into our own hands. We will have to keep up what we have done in Karachok and Sinjar [the areas bombed last week by Turkish warplanes].

US FORCES PROTECTING KURDS 04-17

US forces moving near the northeastern Syrian village of Darbasiyah, on the border with Turkey, where Turkish forces and Kurdish militia clashed last week


Syrian Democratic Forces Claim Advance Inside Tabqa

The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces are claiming an advance inside Tabqa in northern Syria, as part of a campaign to drive the Islamic State from its central position, the city of Raqqa.

Tabqa is about 40 km (25 miles) from Raqqa and near the Tabqa Dam, part of which was taken in late April, on the Euphrates River.

The SDF said on Sunday that it captured six more districts of Tabqa, pushing ISIS into the northern part of the town.

Tabqa was cut off from Raqqa in late March amid the first US airborne landing of SDF forces.

The SDF is led by the Kurdish YPG militia, which is part of the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK. Political tensions, including the Turkish-Kurdish issue, have delayed the Raqqa campaign for months.