Russia says it has received information showing that a Western-backed so-called aid group is preparing to stage a false flag chemical attack in the northwestern Syrian province of Aleppo to incriminate Damascus.
The Defense Ministry said the “White Helmets,” which according to Moscow and Damascus cooperate with Takfiri terrorist groups in the Arab country, have already started the filming process for the attack, Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported on Monday.
“The Russian center for reconciliation [in Syria] received information from residents of Aleppo that they are preparing another provocation with the use of toxic agents to accuse the government forces of using chemical weapons against the local population,” said Lt. Gen. Vladimir Savchenko, the head of the center, according to the ministry.
They arrived in Aleppo from the neighboring Province of Idlib, bringing along containers holding toxic agents, he added.
The group, the official said, sought to stage artillery shellfire with the containers and also meant to provoke the Syrian military to retaliate.
The White Helmets group, projected by the West as “civil defense workers,” was founded by former British Army officer James Le Mesurier in 2014. The self-styled volunteer rescue group has been repeatedly accused of acting as the media arm for Takfiri groups, and charged with staging false flag chemical attacks in a bid to prompt Western military intervention in Syria.
In April, the United States, France, and Britain launched missile strikes against multiple targets around Syria after alleging that “video evidence” provided by the White Helmets had pointed to an earlier chemical attack in the city of Douma in the Arab country’s southwest.
Subsequent investigations showed the video had been fake.
Earlier in the year, Israel transported several hundred members of the group from southwestern Syria to Jordan overnight at the request of the US and European countries, as Damascus was preparing to launch counter-terrorism operations in those areas.
The Sputnik report cited a story aired last week by Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen TV channel based on which militants and the White Helmets had transported poisonous materials from the city of Jisr al-Shughur to the settlement of Khirbat al Amud in Idlib.
Idlib is home to the last largest concentrations of militants and Takfiri terrorists in Syria, and is subject to de-confliction efforts by Russia and Turkey.