White Helmets evacuation to Israel shows their ‘true nature’: Syria

DAMASCUS:- The Syrian government has denounced the evacuation of hundreds of members of a Western-backed "aid group" to an Israeli military camp, saying what Tel Aviv did further reveal the true nature of the so-called "White Helmets," which stands accused of working with Takfiri militants and staging false-flag gas attacks in the Arab country. 

The Israeli military said on Sunday that its troops had managed to evacuate members of the "organization" and their families at the direct request of the United States and some "additional European countries."

The statement, however, did not mention the group by name at the time, but German tabloid Bild said some 800 members of the "White Helmets" were expected to be brought to Jordan through Israel to be reportedly resettled later in the UK, Canada, and Germany.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry, citing an unnamed official at the ministry, said on Monday that Damascus had previously warned about the dangerous role the White Helmets were playing in undermining the security and stability in the Arab country and in the region due to their "terrorist nature."

"Israel has always lied claiming that it doesn't have a relation to the war waged on Syria, yet it has smuggled hundreds of members of the 'White Helmets' terrorist organization and of the leaders of other terror groups in cooperation with the governments of the US, Britain, Jordan, Germany and Canada, and this has uncovered the support provided by these states to the terrorist outfits in their aggression against the Syrians and in destroying the infrastructure in Syria under false pretexts," the Syrian ministry official said.

Members of a Western-backed aid group accused of working with Takfiri militants and staging false flag gas attacks in Syria have reportedly been evacuated to an Israeli military base.

The unnamed source added, "Words are not enough no express the discontent, which the Syrians feel towards these mean conspiracies and the limitless support provided by the Western states, Israel and Jordan to the 'White Helmets' organization and to the gangs of Daesh (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist organizations, which have worked over the past eight years with the aim of deviating Syria from its track and destroying the achievements it has attained."

Admitting to the operation later on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the operation was an "important humanitarian step," adding that he ordered it after requests from US President Donald Trump and Canadian Premier Justin Trudeau.

The news about the Israeli involvement came amid Tel Aviv's ongoing provision of assistance to the militants fighting the Syrian government. Tel Aviv is widely believed to have been providing weapons to anti-Damascus militants as well as medical treatment to Takfiri elements wounded in the Arab country inside the occupied Golan Heights.

Earlier this month, CBS News broadcasting service said in a report that the issue of the White helmets' withdrawal from Syria had been raised with US President Donald Trump in multiple conversations with allied countries on the sidelines of the July 11-12 NATO summit in Brussels.

The US authorizes the release of funding for the White Helmets, a volunteer organization complicit in "staged" chemical attacks in Syria.

"The White Helmets" organization was founded in Turkey in 2013 by former British MI5 officer James Le Mesurier. Since its establishment, the group has received at least $55 million from the British Foreign Office, $23 million or more from the US Office of Transition Initiatives and untold millions from Qatar. 

However, Syria and its close ally Russia stress that the so-called volunteer group has staged the suspected chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma in Syria's Eastern Ghouta region on April 7. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also described the White Helmets as "a branch of al-Qaeda and al-Nusra" militant groups and a "PR stunt" by the US, the UK and France.

PressTV-Syria censures US financial support to White Helmets

Damascus says Washington's attempts to embolden the group has exposed its relationship to the terrorist organization.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has already said that the group claims to be a humanitarian NGO, but actually supports terrorists and covers up their crimes.