By Tony Cartalucci
Source: Mint Press
Despite the fact that the term “moderate rebels” or “moderate opposition” is used often, the media is seemingly incapable of naming a single faction or leader among them.

Upon reading the increasingly desperate headlines pumped out by the Western media as Western-backed terrorist forces begin to fold under an effective joint Syrian-Russian offensive to take the country back, readers will notice that though the term “moderate rebels” or “moderate opposition” is used often, the Western media is seemingly incapable of naming a single faction or leader among them.

The reason for this is because there are no moderates and there never were. Since 2007, the US has conspired to arm and fund extremists affiliated with Al Qaeda to overthrow the government of Syria and destabilize Iranian influence across the entire Middle East.

Exposed in Seymour Hersh’s 2007 article, “The Redirection Is the Administration’s new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?” it stated explicitly that:

The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.

The “catastrophe” the Western media constantly cites in its increasingly hysterical headlines is the predictable manifestation of not Syrian and Russian security operations ongoing in Syria today, but of the conspiracy described by Hersh in 2007 that has indisputably been put into play, starting in 2011 under the guise of the so-called “Arab Spring.”

When the West does attempt to give names and faces to these so-called “moderates,” it is a simple matter to trace them directly back to Al Qaeda.

The BBC’s “Rebel Commander” Plays Dress-Up

In a recent video report published by the BBC titled, “Syria conflict: Rebels ‘feel abandoned’ by Britain and US,” BBC’s Quentin Sommerville claims he “secretly” contacted US-backed rebels from Turkey. The alleged “remote” interview was covered in both locations by professional camera crews, despite Sommerville claiming the situation was so bad, the rebels could not be reached. The “senior rebel commander inside Aleppo” interviewed by the BBC was none other than Yaser Abdulrahim.

Despite appearing in a brand new, crisp “Free Syrian Army” uniform never worn once into the field, and sitting beside an equally pristine “Free Syrian Army” French colonial flag, Yaser Abdulrahim has absolutely no affiliations with the otherwise nonexistent “Free Syrian Army.”

Instead, he is a commander of Faylaq Al-Sham, composed of Al Qaeda terrorists and Muslim Brotherhood extremists. Faylaq Al-Sham and its commander Yaser Abdulrahim, according to Sommerville himself, are part of the larger Fatah Halab umbrella group which also includes Al Qaeda affiliates Ahrar ash-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam – the latter of which literally placed civilians in metal cages on rooftops to use as human shields against Syrian-Russian airstrikes.

Human Rights Watch, in their report titled, “Syria: Armed Groups Use Caged Hostages to Deter Attacks,” would reveal that:

In the course of fighting between armed groups and government forces in the nearby Adra al-Omalia in December 2013, Jabhat al-Nusra and Jaysh al-Islam abducted hundreds of civilians, mostly Alawites, according to the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria. The hostages, many of them women and children, are being held in unidentified locations in Eastern Ghouta. The concern is that they are among those in these cages.

The Human Rights Watch report is also very alarming, considering it implicates Jaysh al-Islam, a member of Yaser Abdulrahim’s Fatah Halab, as collaborating and fighting alongside US State Department listed terrorist group, Jabhat al-Nusra.

The US State Department’s official statement listing al-Nusra as a foreign terrorist organization, titled, “Terrorist Designations of the al-Nusrah Front as an Alias for al-Qa’ida in Iraq,” states:

Since November 2011, al-Nusrah Front has claimed nearly 600 attacks – ranging from more than 40 suicide attacks to small arms and improvised explosive device operations – in major city centers including Damascus, Aleppo, Hamah, Dara, Homs, Idlib, and Dayr al-Zawr. During these attacks numerous innocent Syrians have been killed. Through these attacks, al-Nusrah has sought to portray itself as part of the legitimate Syrian opposition while it is, in fact, an attempt by AQI to hijack the struggles of the Syrian people for its own malign purposes.

It appears, ironically enough, that through the deception of the Western media, al Nusra has been amply assisted in fully hijacking “the struggles of the Syrian people for its own malign purposes.

The BBC’s abhorrent dressing-up of literal members of Al Qaeda and their affiliates in their recent interview fits into a larger pattern of deceit aimed at salvaging the conspiracy described by Hersh in 2007, but upended when in late last year, the Russian Federation upon the invitation of the Syrian government, intervened in the conflict.

With Aleppo teetering at the edge of liberation from what are clearly terrorist forces – the BBC’s propaganda and propaganda like it being propagated by the West represents a cynical attempt to perpetuate – not end – the suffering of the Syrian people.

What is worse still, is that the BBC claims their Fatah Halab-Al Qaeda umbrella group commander dressed as a member of the “Free Syrian Army,” is “US-backed.”

This is either an attempt by the BBC to further deceive their audiences as to who the man they interviewed really was, or an inadvertent admission that the United States is in fact funding the very terrorist groups and their associates, populating their own US State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Whatever the case, the fact that even a carefully staged production like the one published by the BBC is easily exposed as a deliberate attempt to cover up the terroristic identity of what’s left of the West’s “rebels,” adds further imperative to the Syrian government and their Russian, Lebanese, Iraqi, and Iranian allies to end the war and fully restore order to the entirety of Syria’s territory. To negotiate with “rebels” who are clearly terrorists dressed in literal costumes, is an absurdity the West would never accept foisted upon them – thus, no other nation on Earth should accept the West foisting such terms upon them.

By Robert Stuart
Source: Complaint Against BBC Panorama
Correspondence with the BBC over allegations that the Panorama documentary ‘Saving Syria’s Children’ broadcast on 30 September 2013 included staged sequences purporting to show the aftermath of an incendiary bomb attack on an Aleppo school on 26 August 2013

Complaint: Dr Saleyha Ahsan – The Truth About Fat, BBC One, 2 April 2015

Dear Sir / Madam

BBC One, The Truth About Fat, 2 April 2015

I wish to complain that the BBC’s employment of Dr Saleyha Ahsan as presenter of the above programme breaches Section 15.4.5 of the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines, which states:

The external activities of BBC editorial staff, reporters and presenters should not undermine the public’s perception of the impartiality, integrity or independence of BBC output. External activities should not bring the BBC into disrepute. It is also important that off-air activities do not undermine the on-air role of regular presenters.
Breaches of international humanitarian law by Dr Saleyha Ahsan.

The publication on Facebook by Dr Ahsan of photographs taken in Libya in October 2011 plainly breach Geneva Convention provisions protecting prisoners of war and others caught up in conflicts against insults and public curiosity.

I have obscured the relevant individual’s identity in the two photographs below. The full images are presently viewable on Dr Ahsan’s Facebook page. [1]

Former BBC legal correspondent Joshua Rozenberg observes:

The Fourth Geneva Convention, signed in 1949, protects civilians in time of war. But its application is much broader, covering people who, “in any manner whatsoever, find themselves, in the case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a party to the conflict or occupying power of which they are not nationals”.

It applies not only to “cases of declared war” but also “any other armed conflict”. This seems to cover the situation of foreign troops captured at gunpoint.

Article 27 says that people protected by the Fourth Convention “are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their persons” and be protected from violence, threats, insults and public curiosity.

A similar provision under the Third Convention protects prisoners of war against “insults and public curiosity”. Although this was probably intended to ban prisoners being paraded through the streets, it must apply equally to prisoners being forced to appear on television.

The US Government used this to justify its decision in 2004 not to allow photographs to be published of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The detainees, it said, were either prisoners of war or protected persons under the Fourth Convention.

Releasing their photographs, military lawyers said, “would be inconsistent with the obligation of the United States to treat the individuals humanely and would pose a great risk of subjecting these individuals to public insult and curiosity”.

Article 3, common to all the conventions, provides protection during civil wars and non-international armed conflicts. That says that people taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of the armed forces who have laid down their arms for any reason, “shall in all circumstances be treated humanely”.
Ethics and integrity of Dr Saleyha Ahsan

Children and armed groups

Dr Ahsan’s Facebook page contains a number of images from Libya in which she poses with armed groups which include children. The adolescent in the grey top at the right of the first two images below would appear to be an active member of such a group. [2] The third image features a younger child surrounded by men brandishing automatic weapons. Unsurprisingly, this child appears uncomfortable. In the final two images a group of armed revellers is joined by Dr Ahsan and another young boy. In all the photographs in which she appears Dr Ahsan’s pleasure is apparent.

Dr Ahsan’s chilling attitude towards children and armed conflict is further evidenced in her dramatised account of her experiences in Libya, ‘The Road to Bani Walid‘ (copy here), broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 27 February 2015: [3]

“a seventeen year old boy who’s been separated from his brigade and is desperate to get back to them. You can tell he’s seen action, the way he holds himself, his eyes always focussing somewhere else – he needs his unit”. (The Road to Bani Walid, 24:30)

Notably, Dr Ahsan’s instinct is that this child’s most urgent need is to be reunited with a military fighting unit rather than with his family, or indeed to be offered the services of a counsellor in order to address the effects of trauma which Dr Ahsan observes.

In her approving attitude towards the participation of children in armed fighting units and her nonchalance towards the presence of children among armed groups Dr Ahsan demonstrates a clear lack of concern for the physical and psychological wellbeing of minors. [4]

Association with Hand in Hand for Syria

In the 2013 BBC Panorama special ‘Saving Syria’s Children‘ Dr Ahsan is seen volunteering with the UK registered charity Hand in Hand for Syria.

As noted here, until July 2014 the Facebook banner of Hand in Hand for Syria’s co-founder Faddy Sahloul read WE WILL BRING ASSAD TO JUSTICE; NO MATTER WHAT LIVES IT TAKES, NO MATTER HOW MUCH CATASTROPHE IT MAKES. Such shocking and bloodthirsty sentiments, utterly divergent from what one would expect of a humanitarian charity, are in stark contrast to Hand in Hand for Syria’s declared purpose on the Charity Commission website of “the advancement of health or saving lives”. The image was removed shortly after this comment was made on the Guardian newspaper’s website.

A nurse who appears at 31:17 in ‘Saving Syria’s Children’ is pictured on this website wearing a Hand in Hand for Syria tunic and apparently treating a child combatant. The site names the child as fifteen year old Mujahid Omar and claims he has spent three years in the “revolutionary movement service”. The image allegedly depicts him being treated following an injury sustained in battle.

Hand in Hand for Syria is the subject of detailed and highly disturbing research by peace activist Dr Declan Hayes. Dr Hayes’ research has been submitted to the police and Charity Commission.

Dr Hayes notes (p13) the partnership between Hand in Hand for Syria and ShelterBox International, whose founder and former chief executive is currently facing fraud charges and whose governance is scrutinised in this report. In an email of 19 December 2014 Sam Hewett, Operations Coordinator of ShelterBox International, wrote:

We look forward to the results of the investigations of the Charity Commission. Special Branch have also been in contact with ShelterBox, and we have no doubt that they will also have been making investigations with Hand in Hand for Syria.

Yours faithfully

Robert Stuart

Notes

[1] All of Dr Ahsan’s photographs from Libya which are reproduced here were published on her Facebook page at the time of writing. Screengrabs demonstrating this are here.

[2] The images of the adolescent in grey recall this scene from ‘Saving Syria’s Children‘, a 2013 BBC Panorama special in which Dr Ashan participated. The still is from 11:30 in the programme, after reporter Ian Pannell and his team have just passed through an ISIS checkpoint. As Susan Dirgham, National Coordinator of Australians for Mussalaha (Reconciliation) in Syria, notes in a complaint to the BBC the startling presence of young boys in a militia group at this point is strangely unremarked upon, a peculiar omission in a programme purporting to focus on the impact of the Syrian crisis on children.

Dr Ahsan’s relaxed attitude to children and weaponry further recalls the photo album of another BBC employee, ‘Saving Syria’s Children’ “Fixer/Translator” Mughira Al Sharif. As noted here (search for “Sharif”) the second image below was published on Mr Al Sharif’s Instagram account on Tuesday 27 August 2013, the day after he had purportedly witnessed dozens of injured and dying children at Atareb Hospital, Aleppo.

[3] Billed as “the story of her journey to confront the reality of revolution – and of her own reasons for being there” Dr Ahsan’s play contains a number of shocking passages, including:

“every time we stop more vehicles join the convoy, revolutionary songs playing from stereos – it’s more like going to a party than going to a war!” (23:00)

“a woman in hijab driving herself to war singing Andrew Lloyd Webber – how cool is that!” [Dr Ahsan is here referring to herself] (24:00)

“it looks like an arms fair out here – armoured vehicles, artillery, tanks, all lined up like a showroom – instant adrenaline surge! This war’s for real!” (26:50)

[4] The irony of Dr Ahsan’s participation in the 2013 BBC Panorama special ‘Saving Syria’s Children‘ is marked.

The BBC Trust Unit has judged that complaints alleging fabrication in some of the scenes in ‘Saving Syria’s Children’ should not be put before the Trust. However, in addition to a number of errors in the Trust Unit’s two separate decisions on this matter (such as its frequent appeal to an “independent investigation” of the alleged “playground napalm bomb” by Human Rights Watch when HRW has in fact clearly stated that it has “not investigated this incident“), a number of potentially crucial evidence points remain entirely unaddressed.

The Trust Unit also neglected to investigate the role that medical simulation techniques may have played in fabricating the alleged injuries presented in ‘Saving Syria’s Children’, taking account of the personal relationship which exists between Brigadier Kevin Beaton who, as demonstrated in this Newsnight report, is involved in leading HOSPEX medical simulation exercises, and Dr Saleyha Ahsan (“he was my squadron commander in Bosnia and inspired me to study medicine”).

A summary of the issues surrounding ‘Saving Syria’s Children’ identified by the complainants is Here