Syria is evacuated by the organization of rescuers "White Helmets"

They accused Russia of killing civilians. Russia accused them of staged filming

"White Helmets" is a Syrian charitable organization that arose as a union of local residents

In the spring of 2011, several Syrian teenagers, inspired by the Arab Spring , drew anti -government graffiti on one of the walls of the city of Deraa. After they were detained and beaten by the military, local residents began to smash state buildings in protest; The authorities shot the protesters in response - according to human rights activists, about 100 people died. Protest shares spread throughout the country - this began at first the partisan, and then a full -scale war throughout the country. The opposition quickly armed itself, many military people went over to its side. Gradually, in uncontrollable Syria, terrorist groups began to fight-“Islamic state of Iraq and Levant” (later “Islamic state”), “Jebhat al-Nusra” (Syrian branch of Al-Keda) and dozens of others.

In cities engaged in the opposition, state institutions, including hospitals, stopped working. When they began to bomb government forces, it turned out that there was no one to save and operate the victims. In different parts of the country - primarily in Aleppo and Idlib - residents began to unite in small groups to help neighbors. Among them were engineers, artists, students, bakers and others. In 2014, these groups were united to exchange experience and equipment. They went to the ruins in white helmets - so they were soon nicknamed “white helmets”, although initially they are still officially called the “Syrian civil defense”.

"White Helmets" provide humanitarian assistance to the victims of bombing. They were put forward to the Nobel Prize of the World

The participants in the organization daily watch the sky over the Syrian cities and, having seen the airline, immediately leave for the place - often arriving there when dust has not yet settled. In addition to saving people from under the ruins, they provide medical care, take them to hospitals, create their first-aid posts.

In 2018, about 3.5 thousand people worked in the organization; During the existence, they - according to their own estimates - saved about 100 thousand people. During rescue operations, about 200 “white helmets” were killed.

The organization works only on the territories not controlled by the government forces of Bashar Assad (in addition, its members periodically travel to Turkey to training camps). Because of this, the Syrian and Russian authorities have repeatedly accused her of bias. “White helmets” are sponsored - money, technology, medicines - many European countries, as well as Great Britain, Japan and the USA.

For several years now, “white helmets” are among the main applicants for the Nobel Prize of the World; The petition to be presented to the organizations, collected about 130 thousand signatures, it was supported by American actors George Clooney and Ben Affleck.

Perhaps they somehow interact with terrorists

This is not known for sure. “White helmets” work in the territories controlled by opposition and terrorist groups-and probably somehow interact with them. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation associated the “white helmets” with several groups, which Russia considers terrorist.

“White helmets” are engaged not only in medical care, but also to the spread of information. The Russian authorities consider it unreliable

The White Helmets are the first to come to the bombing places, so the organization is one of the main sources of videos and photographs of destruction, dead, and war crimes. It was they who took a photograph of the boy in the dust in Aleppo, which became one of the last symbols of the Syrian war. Their videos help international human rights defenders conduct their investigations.

In April 2018, the White Helmets reported a chemical attack in the Duma, in which dozens of civilians died, and posted photo and video evidence into the network. In air strike, they accused the government troops controlled by President Bashar Assad.

Assad himself and Russian officials stated that these materials are setting. The representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Igor Konashenkov said that it was organized with the participation of Great Britain. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, people after attacking the Duma were delivered to the hospitals without signs of chemical poisoning - but at the time of their first aid, people with video cameras broke into the room, who "began to scream, wrapped panic and pour all water from the hoses, shouting that all those in the room were affected by poisonous substances."

On the state television channel Russia 24, a plot was released in which an 11-year-old boy from the White Helmier video said that rescuers proposed to participate in the production of rice, dates and cookies. “Russia 1” released a plot that talked about allegedly found photographs from the set of “white helmets”. However, the plot of “Russia 1” also turned out to be a falsification: they tried to issue photographs of filming on the official Facebook page of the Syrian feature film “Revolution Man” for the set of “white helmets”.

“White helmets are involved in the most odious provocations during the Syrian conflict,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said . “They acted exclusively on the territories controlled by Islamic radicals, prepared frank fakes, which were then used as an excuse for the income against the Syrian authorities.”

The White Helmets accused Russia of bombing of civilians. Russia denied everything

On October 26, 2016, the White Helmets reported a airstrike of Russian aircraft in the city of Hass, during which several dozen people, including 22 children, died. UNICEF called the airier the most bloody incident of this kind from the beginning of the Civil War in Syria. The city is located in the Idlib area, in which there were militants of different groups, including the Islamic State.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation said that the airline was staged. On that day, not a single aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces entered the Hass area. “The photo shows that only one end wall of the building is damaged, and all the desks in the class are in their places,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement. “Moreover, through the gap in the wall, it is clearly clear that the fence of a pinkish color is opposite - a whole and does not even have fragmentation damage.” The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation considered the “white helmets” shots “with a gluing of more than 10 mounted segments removed with various resolutions at different times of the day”. “All this says that the UNICEF leadership was a victim of another deception of scammers in the“ white helmets ”,” the Ministry of Defense was concluded.

On June 8, 2018, the White Helmets accused Russia of applying an airstrike in the area of ​​the city of Zardan in the Idlib province, as a result of which about 40 people were killed. The Ministry of Defense denied involvement in air strikes.

Russia fights with "white helmets" with the help of bots, trolls and misinformation

The Bellingcat, investigating war crimes according to open data, told what techniques Russian propaganda uses to discredit “white helmets”. Typically, the Prochrevsky and Prosadov media or bots say that the “white helmets” collaborate with Al-Keda or the Islamic State, either claim that “white helmets” are falsifying persons of war crimes.

Prochrevsky and Prosadovian users regularly comment on the video laid out by “white helmets”, and also display their own videos with a conspiracy analysis of “white helmets” in the trends of Yetuub. Bots comment on the materials of “white helmets” in social networks: researchers identified about 14 thousand pro -Russian accounts on Twitter, which are busy with this.

“[Bashar Assad and Russia] deny each of the massacres that they committed in Syria, they are trying to distort the reality and the truth that we report. They strive to kill us in the field, they strive to slander us in the press through trolling and propaganda. This is because we react to all such cases and try to show the world what happened in reality, ” said one of the leaders of“ white helmets ”.

In 2017, the Netflix short documentary about the daily work of “White Helmets” received an Oscar. The RT channel called this the reward "For the best production." The Twitter of the Russian Embassy in the UK welcomed the awarding of the film by a drawing in which the caricature terrorist in the White helmet holds Oscar.

Now hundreds of "white helmets" are evacuated from Syria. They will be settled in Europe, Canada and the USA

On July 22, Israel at the request of the United States evacuated from the province of Kuner, bordering on the Golan Heights, about 400 people - rescuers from the "white helmets" and their families. They were surrounded by terrorists from IG and government forces. They were taken to Jordan.

The German Foreign Minister said that the country is ready to accept part of the White Helmets. “For several years, these people were the first to appear at the site of attacks. Risking life, they saved more than a hundred thousand people. We acted with friends and partners from Britain, Canada and the USA. We are very happy about our success, and Germany will be glad to accept part of these people with their families, ”he said. This was also talked about the Foreign Ministry of Great Britain.

The Russian Embassy in Israel said that the evacuation of “white helmets” will lead to a decrease in the number of provocations using chemical weapons.

About three thousand “white helmets” remain in Syria.

Daniil Turovsky