Source: 21st Century Wire
As the conflict in Syria gradually draws down, more revelations are surfacing regarding the US and UK-backed pseudo NGO commonly known as the White Helmets.

The following UN presentation details many of the groups exploits, including staged rescues which were tailor-made for the group’s various propaganda films disseminated across western mainstream media. Testimonies included 21WIRE reporter Vanessa Beeley, along with witness statements taken from former White Helmet members who admit to carrying out various frauds and crimes perpetrated since the group’s inception in 2013, as well as admissions of their direct links to Jabat al-Nusra (al Qaeda in Syria) and other known terrorist groups.

Far from being the “tailors, bakers, teachers and other ordinary Syrians” which they regularly portray themselves, the White Helmets have instead been exposed as frauds, thieves, kidnappers and organ traffickers.

RT International reports…

The ‘White Helmets’ are not a rescue group but an extension of jihadist militants, and should be designated a terrorist organization, Russia’s envoy to the UN argued at the presentation of evidence into the group’s wrongdoing.

Praised in the West as humanitarian rescue volunteers, in reality the ‘White Helmets’ work with Islamist militants in Syria, harvest organs from the victims they pretend to be “rescuing,” stage false chemical weapons and other attacks for cameras, and loot the bodies and homes of Syrians killed and injured in the war, according to Maxim Grigoriev, director of the Russia-based Foundation for the Study of Democracy.

Watch the full presentation with multiple researchers sharing findings into activities of the ‘White Helmets’ in Syria at UN headquarters in New York City: Presentation at UN on WH

Grigoriev presented the results of the Foundation’s research into White Helmets at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday. Russia’s envoy to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said the evidence shows the group is dangerous.

“The White Helmets deserve to be on the United Nations’ designated terrorist list,” Nebenzia said.

Rather than volunteers, almost all the members of White Helmets were paid staff, Grigoriev explained. There is also “undeniable evidence” that the group has been taking written orders from Jaysh al‑Islam, an Islamist militant group most notorious for its occupation of Douma.

It was in this suburb of Damascus that the White Helmets staged the “chemical attack” that served as the pretext for French, UK and US missile strikes against the Syrian government in April this year.

“Falsification of chemical attacks was an essential part of the White Helmets’ activities,” Grigoriev testified, adding that the group also regularly engaged in “making fake news and organizing staged rescues.”

He cited a particular example of a place called Jisr al‑Haj in Aleppo, where the militants had set trash on fire, brought bodies from the local morgue, and had the White Helmets film a staged rescue. Grigoriev cited a testimony by a member of the White Helmets, who also said that everyone involved received an extra $50 for the effort.

Many local residents interviewed for the research spoke about people “rescued” by the White Helmets ending up dead, with their internal organs missing. One of the witnesses interviewed was a former member of Ahrar al-Sham, who testified that his commander Shadi Kadik, also known as Abu Adel Al-Halabi (of Aleppo), acknowledged the organ harvesting. The total number of cases involving organ theft is “at least several hundred” in Aleppo alone, Grigoriev testified.

Instead of rescuing civilians and children, the White Helmets looted homes damaged in the fighting and bodies of the dead, while forcing the children out of schools and kindergartens to set up offices there.

“At a rough estimate, out of 26 centers operating in Eastern Ghouta, ten were located in schools and one in a kindergarten,” Grigoriev cited from the testimony of a Syrian journalist in the area.

In Eastern Ghouta alone, between 100 and 150 members of White Helmets were also members of terrorist and militant groups. They engaged in building trenches, tunnels and fortifications for the militants, openly boasting about their membership on social media, but denying it whenever they were interviewed by Western reporters.

“Facebook accounts of members of the White Helmets are full of propagandist materials of terrorist groups, including [Islamic State] and al-Qaeda, praising Osama bin Laden and other individuals listed by the UN as terrorists,” Grigoriev said, adding that the so-called rescuers also posted “hundreds of photos with weapons in their hands.”

The Foundation is a member of the Global Counter-Terrorism Research Network established in 2013 by the UN’s Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate. Its report is based on interviews with over 100 eyewitnesses, including 40 members of the White Helmets, 50 local residents and 15 former terrorist and militant fighters. More than 500 local residents were also surveyed in Aleppo and Deraa.

A number of Western countries, such as the UK and Canada, have proudly announced they would be accepting White Helmets as refugees, after several hundred members of the group were evacuated from a jihadist-held enclave in southern Syria ahead of the advancing government troops.

The government in Damascus considers the White Helmets to be in the same category as illegal militias and terrorists.

Source: FarsNews
The Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news channel’s correspondent in Moscow reported that a number of British forces have been captured during the military operations in Eastern Ghouta.

Earlier reports had disclosed last month that foreign military forces were deployed in Eastern Ghouta of Damascus to launch a ground assault against Damascus in cooperation with the US.

The US and Israel planned to launch attacks on Damascus from several fronts in collaboration with the NATO and Jordan, but the plot failed after the Syrian army scored rapid, major victories in Eastern Ghouta.

Informed sources disclosed that the US and Israel intended to support the terrorists in Eastern Ghouta by airstrikes so that they could capture vast areas of Damascus to pave the ground for the Syrian government’s collapse.

“After the plot was disclosed, the Syrian-Russian military commanders started operations in Eastern Ghouta to repel it,” the sources said.

After the failure of the plot in March, the US and Turkey sought to rescue the foreign militants trapped in Eastern Ghouta of Damascus and take them to Idlib as they were facing the Syrian army’s rapid advances in the region.

After the army’s expanding march in Eastern Ghouta and failure of the US-Israeli plot to conduct an effective offensive on Damascus, the US command center rushed to evacuate allied militants and agents operating for Israel, Jordan and NATO from the region.

Informed sources then said although the Turkish officials said they were ready to help evacuation of al-Nusra Front (Tahrir al-Sham Hay’at or the Levant Liberation Board) terrorists from Eastern Ghouta to take them to Idlib, this seemed to be a cover as they really meant to rescue their special foreign forces that were among the ranks of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra in Syria.

“Therefore, the US has ordered Jeish al-Islam, Faylaq al-Rahman and other terrorist groups to allow evacuation of civilians from Eastern Ghouta to army-held regions in a bid to provide the ground for these foreign agents to also leave Ghouta in disguise and enable the Turkish intelligence service to send them to specified regions in al-Tanf and Northern Syria which are under the control of the US troops,” they said.

Yet, the US operations room in al-Tanf base ordered end of all operations by the aforementioned allied forces after the terrorists were defeated in Eastern Ghouta and the collapse of the two towns of al-Nashabiyeh and al-Mohammadiyeh on the first days of the Syrian army’s offensives in Eastern Ghouta.

Also the US CENTCOM urged withdrawal of allied forces from Eastern Ghouta to Arabayn, Zamalka and Douma before dividing Ghouta into three areas to pave the ground for their withdrawal from Ghouta region.

Militants allied to the US troops in Eastern Syria had revealed in March that the US planned to stage the attack in a different region further to the East between the provinces of Homs and Deir Ezzur.

Source: SANA
Damascus – Residents of Damascus city are finally breathing a sigh of relief after years of pain, suffering and the loss of loved ones due to the mortar and rocket shells fired by terrorist groups located in the Eastern Ghouta targeting innocent civilians and safe neighborhoods in the capital.

No more casualties, fears or tears as the Syrian Arab army continues to establish control over areas held by armed terrorist groups in the Eastern Ghouta following the agreement reached yesterday which provided for releasing abductees in Douma in exchange for the exit of terrorists of the so-called Jaish al-Islam to Jarablos.

SANA interviewed a number of al-Midan neighborhood inhabitants who expressed pride in the achievements made by the Syrian army and the painful blows on “Jaish al-Islam” terrorists’ positions and hotbeds in Douma forcing them to succumb.

“We have been waiting for this moment so long. The moment of declaring victory in Douma and liberation of all abductees after years of suffering and steadfastness,” said one of the citizens, expressing hope that Syria would finally triumph over terrorism.

Other residents stressed that all terrorists’ attempts to spread chaos and fear are foiled thanks to the sacrifices of the Syrian army and the people’s faith in achieving victory.

By H. Zain/ Ghossoun

Source: SANA
Damascus – Thousands of civilians returned homes in the villages and towns of eastern Ghouta in Damascus countryside after the Syrian Arab Army restored security and stability to them and eradicated the Takfiri terrorist organizations from them.

A military source said Tuesday that the number of those who returned homes in eastern Ghouta reached more than 40,000 persons so far.

The return of the locals to all villages and towns which were liberated by the army from terrorism continues, the source added.

Meanwhile, SANA’s reporters said that the engineering units continue to comb the villages and towns of eastern Ghouta for dismantling the mines and explosives which were planted by terrorists in the houses, streets and main squares.

The army units, in cooperation with the police units, are working on providing all facilitations and aid needed for the return of the locals to their homes.

Damascus Countryside Police Command reactivated the work of the police units in Jisrin, Erbin and Harasta in eastern Ghouta and deployed regular patrols to enhance security and safety and to protect the popular and private properties in them.

The reporters said that the workshops continue removing the debris, opening the streets and rehabilitating the health and services centers and the schools to receive students.

On Monday, Damascus Countryside Education Directorate announced the return of more than 12,000 students to their schools in eastern Ghouta and the makeshift centers.

Source: RT
Syrian forces have liberated all militant-held settlements in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, the military command said in a televised statement. A major Syrian motorway has been unblocked for the first time in seven years.

“After a set of carefully planned battles and operations carried out by our armed forces in cooperation with loyal and allied troops, the control over all the towns and settlements in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta has been restored,” a Syrian Army statement said, as cited by Sputnik news agency.

The army has also lifted the blockade of a main highway connecting the Syrian capital to the rest of the country, the statement said, as cited by SANA state news agency. “The victory in Eastern Ghouta ensured opening of the main routes between Damascus and central, northern and coastal regions, and all the way to the Iraqi border,” it said.

Syrian forces managed to defeat the militant groups holding Ghouta after their headquarters, ammunition depots, fortifications and weapons factories were destroyed, the army said. It added the military units are continuing the offensive on the outskirts of the town of Douma, driving militants out of the area.

The milestone victory would ensure the “restoration of security and stability in Damascus,” and would bring relief to a civilian population that has suffered from “terrorist crimes and sponsors of terrorist organizations over the past several years.”

The Eastern Ghouta area has been under siege since 2012. In February this year, Syrian troops began their offensive to liberate the last militant-held stronghold located close to Damascus.

On February 27, Russia brokered the humanitarian ceasefire in eastern Ghouta to allow civilians to escape the area through a humanitarian corridor, several of which have since been set up. The cessation of hostilities was renewed several times, allowing civilians, as well as militants and their families, to safely exit the besieged area.

The Russian military also helped the Syrian Army ensure security in and around humanitarian corridors, through which both civilians and militants were exiting. The troops thwarted dozens of suicide attacks targeting buses that ferried civilians out of the area, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Friday. Forty-eight explosive belts were also seized during anti-terrorism raids.

The efforts enabled at least 150,000 people to leave eastern Ghouta for safety, the majority of them being Syrian civilians suffering under the militant rule. As the area was being liberated, some 40,000 people returned to their homes. Those who have returned are receiving aid packages delivered by UN agencies and the Russian Reconciliation Center.

Syrian civilians who managed to flee eastern Ghouta through humanitarian corridors relayed the stories of atrocities committed by the terrorists. They told RT’s video agency Ruptly that the militants kept all the food and water for themselves, used people as human shields and employed threats and violence in order to prevent them from leaving the war-torn area.
Life in eastern Ghouta will soon be returning back to normal in a way that is similar to what is now happening in Aleppo, which was liberated from militants with Russia’s help in late 2016, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, reacting to the news.
“We have a place, which was one of the last terrorist strongholds, cleared from militants… We have obvious progress, which is admitted by the UN and humanitarian organizations; we have the process of withdrawal of civilians [from terrorist-held areas] and the liberation of towns,” Zakharova told Russia’s Channel 5.

Those are the signs that “bit by bit, eastern Ghouta will follow the footsteps of Aleppo, where from 100,000 to 200,000 people have already returned,” she said. “It still less than what used to be the city’s population [before the war], but it shows that life is really starting to come back to normal.”

According to SANA, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) together with Tiger Forces continue to secure the exit of hundreds of civilians from terrorist held areas in Eastern Ghouta.

Last Saturday 24.04.2018, the towns of Saqba, Kafr Batna, and Hamouriyah were liberated. Syrian authorities immediately commenced attending health care needs and sending trucks with food supply to assist the immediate needs of the liberated population.

In addition, authorities also began an assessment of the damaged infrastructure to restore essential services and start reconstruction.

By Sunday a second batch of 81 buses begun the transfer of 5435 terrorists and their families from Jobar, Ein Tarma, Zamalka and Erbin to Idlib in north-west of Syria.

Last week 10 buses transferred 500 of Faylak Al-Rahman terrorists and their families from Harasta to Idlib. Some of the terrorists were released from prison, a deal that secured the release of 13 kidnapped Syrian soldiers. The SAA also secured the release of eight civilians who had been kidnapped and held hostage for over four years.

Also on Sunday, the Army secured another 1100 civilians, mainly women, children and elderly people, through Al-Wafideen safety corridor, while the Army took full control of Haza town.

Over 80% of Eastern Ghouta is now under Syrian Govt control. There were many moments of joy as liberated civilians reunited with family members outside East Ghouta. A SAA soldier shed torrents of tears as he reunited with his mother who he had not seen for seven years.

The City of Damascus is still in morning for the tens of civilians murdered by terrorists bombings last week. On Saturday evening another rocket hit the Faiha Sports Centre killing a young soccer player, Samir Massoud, an injuring at least six other.

The terrorist group Jaish al-Islam has decided to remain in Douma to continue terrorising and killing civilians, while in Afrin at least 170,000 civilians have been displaced by Turkey backed terrorists.

The SAA and Tiger Forces will continue their campaign of liberation of Eastern Ghouta and the rest of the country until every corner of Syria is free from terrorists and every imperial and neo-colonial invading force.