FLASHBACK: 'White Helmets' Staged Death Scene In Syrian Warzone Late Last Year

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Apr. 06, 2017

Syria's "White Helmets," who were seen Tuesday handling "sarin-saturated bodies" without gloves, staged a bizarre "death scene" in November of last year as part of a weird propaganda stunt.

As RT reported at the time: "The video that shows members of Syria’s White Helmets partaking in the popular 'Mannequin Challenge' with an injured man, was first posted online by the Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office (RFS), an anti-Assad media outlet. #MannequinChallenge was in the video’s title along with 'edge of death.'"

Here's the video:



Here's RT breaking it down:



Here's these same "White Helmets" in Syria on Tuesday handling "sarin-saturated victims" without gloves:


In case you think the Russkies made this all up, here's coverage from the BBC last November:
It is an achingly familiar scene. An injured man lies in the rubble as two members of the Syria Civil Defence group - known as the White Helmets - come to his aid, another apparent victim of Syria's bloody civil war.

But all is not as it seems.

The man and the White Helmets appear frozen. The whole scene is in fact posed.

The men are performing their version of the Mannequin Challenge in a video released by activists from the Revolutionary Forces of Syria (RFS) "to raise awareness of the suffering of the Syrian people".

Nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the White Helmets comprise roughly 3,000 volunteer rescue workers in rebel-held areas.

Since 2013, they have searched for survivors in the aftermath of the deadly air strikes raining down on Syria's towns and cities, saving thousands of lives.

They say they are non-partisan and a regular source of video and eyewitness accounts from the thick of the fighting.

But critics, often pro-Assad or pro-Russia accounts on social media, allege links to jihadist groups and have long claimed that the organisation fabricates reports and rescues.

This latest video has seen those critical voices grow louder, while the stunt has left others bemused.
In a statement to the BBC, the White Helmets acknowledged the involvement of two of their volunteers but said the video had not been sanctioned by the group's leadership team.

"The video and the related posts were recorded by RFS media with Syria Civil Defence (White Helmets) volunteers, who hoped to create a connection between the horror of Syria and the outside world, using the viral Mannequin Challenge," the statement read.

"This was an error of judgement, and we apologise on behalf of the volunteers involved.
Here's a shot from Tuesday of one of the allegedly dead victims of this gas-attack appearing to open her eyes:


The main source for the "sarin gas" story was allegedly an "Al-Qaeda-linked, deregistered British doctor" deemed "unfit to practice" named Shajul Islam:



An "anti-Assad reporter" allegedly tweeted about the chemical attack the day before it happened:




This story should be viewed with the highest of suspicions. Incidentally, not a single "fact checker" has taken this story up, even though Trump himself on Wednesday ran with the unverified claim Assad's government was behind the attack.

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