Erdogan stelt militaire operatie uit op verzoek van Trump >> Turkse inval op Syrisch-Koerdisch gebied aanstaande

Erdogan liep afgelopen week te pochen dat hij op verzoek van het beest Trump de voorgenomen militaire actie in Syrië heeft afgeblazen, de actie van Turkije die bestaat uit een inval op Syrisch grondgebied dat in handen is van de Koerden......

Kan best kloppen, immers de ommezwaai van Trump was wel zeer plots, zonder zelfs een verkiezing voor de deur!* Deze stap, 'zéééér toevallig', op het moment dat Turkije klaar is met de troepenopbouw om Syrisch grondgebied binnen te vallen. Kan me zelfs voorstellen dat Trump het wel prima vindt als Erdogan die 'vieze Koerden' de zoveelste bloedige les leert....... Zeker gezien het volgende: 'hoge militairen' (korporaal eerste klasse of zo) hebben bevestigd dat de VS ook haar luchtmacht terug zal trekken......

Erdogan zei verder nog dat Trump hem had gevraagd of Turkije groepen als IS kan bestrijden en uiteraard heeft Erdogan die vraag met een bevestiging beantwoord..... ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! Tja, als je onder bestrijden verstaat het afnemen van IS olie, of het bewapenen van groepen als IS, kan je Turkije inderdaad aanwijzen als de beste partij die dit kan doen (al is de VS daar nog beter in, maar die zal zich zoals gezegd terugtrekken uit Syrië, althans als je Trump moet geloven) 

Eén ding is zeker, van de VS hoeven de Koerden niets meer te verwachten, wat dat betreft was de stap van Mattis vreemd genoeg 'een mooi gebaar' naar de Koerden...... Ach, Mattis wil nog liever vandaag dan morgen Iran aanvallen dan morgen en aan de Koerden zal hij een broertje dood hebben........ Laten we wat dat betreft hopen dat Trump niet wordt omgeluld door Bolton, die als ik me niet vergis Iran met kernraketten zou willen aanvallen..... Niet voor niets dat de haviken in de VS over de rooie zijn gegaan na de aankondiging van Trump de VS troepen terug te trekken uit Syrië......

Onbegrijpelijk dat andere westerse landen, voor een fiks deel NB NAVO-partners, de VS en Turkije laten begaan met de vreselijke terreur die ze begaan in landen waar ook wij en de rest van het westen niets te zoeken hebben....... Je kan dit ook de militairen voorhouden die daar illegaal opereren, zij zien toch de verschrikkingen, de vernietiging, de lijken, de vreselijke ellende onder de bevolking en ze zouden zelfs moeten kunnen bedenken dat we daar i.d.d. niets te zoeken hebben........Dit alles en dan te bedenken dat de militaire missies eindeloos zijn en kapitalen aan belastinggeld opslokken....

Natuurlijk zijn de reguliere westerse (massa-) media een grote verantwoordelijkheid hebben van wat er allemaal is gepasseerd in Syrië, zonder correspondenten, anders dan embedded bij westerse troepen, in het land te hebben.... Als kippen zonder kop herhalen deze media de leugens van geheime diensten, het Pentagon en politici die ten koste van alles de regering Assad willen laten vallen........

Om het voorgaande te bewerkstelligen, herhalen deze massamedia zelfs de berichten van het Syrisch Observatorium voor Mensenrechten (SOHR), terwijl dit SOHR nauwe contacten heeft met de terreurgroepen in Syrië en aantoonbaar een hele berg leugens heeft gebracht in de loop van een paar jaar..... Het SOHR dat wordt geleid door een voormalige misdadiger die zogenaamd een politiek vluchteling is, terwijl hij terechte gevangenisstraf in Syrië heeft ontlopen....... 

De meest belachelijke reacties zijn die wel van de reguliere (massa-) media in de VS, dezen doen het voorkomen als zou de VS met de stap van Trump, Syrië weggeven aan Assad, Rusland en Iran....... Terwijl de VS volkomen illegaal opereert boven en op Syrische bodem en Syrië allesbehalve bezit is van deze grootste terreurentiteit op onze aarde!! 

Het volgende bericht komt van TurkishMinutes (weer eens wat anders dan 'Times....'), een zeer beperkt bericht, waar geen woord van kritiek is te lezen op Erdogan, precies zoals de media zich onder een dictatuur moeten gedragen, al valt het me mee dat er niet in lovende woorden over Erdogan wordt gesproken:

Erdoğan postpones military operation east of Euphrates after Trump call

By TM December 21, 2018

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday said Turkey had decided to postpone a military offensive in northern Syria against Kurdish militia after a phone call with US President Donald Trump, Sputnik Turkish service reported.

“Actually, we announced our decision to launch the operation east of the Euphrates last week,” Erdoğan said at a business meeting in İstanbul.

He told the audience Trump had asked him on the phone whether Turkey could get rid of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“We did it before, we can do it again,” Erdoğan said he answered.

According to Erdoğan, Turkey has killed around 3,000 ISIL militants in Jarabulus, a Syrian city in Aleppo province.

US support for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia in the fight against ISIL had been a complication in relations between the two NATO allies.

Turkey had previously conducted two military operations west of the Euphrates River, in the Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria.
=================================
* 'VS trekt troepen terug uit Syrië zodat Turkije een massale aanval kan lanceren op de Koerden......'

Zie ook:
'New York Post geeft 5 jaar te laat toe: IS werd en wordt gesteund door Turkije'

'Syrië: de etnische, culturele en religieuze zuivering door Turks leger en islamitische terreurgroep'

'Turkije valt weer illegaal Syrisch gebied binnen: NAVO-lidstaten stil......'

'Turkije klaar voor nieuwe inval in Noordoost-Syrië'

'VS keurt raketleveringen van Turkije aan terreurgroep in Syrië goed'

'Erdogans vrouw krijgt mensenrechtenprijs WHF voor 'opvang' vluchtelingen......'

'Koerdische gevangenen in Turkse gevangenissen massaal in hongerstaking'

'Idlib: akkoord Turkije – Rusland leidt tot grote aanval op Syrië.....'

'Turkse verkiezingen: Stoltenberg (roverhoofdman NAVO) feliciteert Erdogan met zijn verkiezing tot dictator'

'Turkse geheime dienst ontvoert etnische Turken in het buitenland........'

'Turkije bombardeert ziekenhuis in Afrin, waar blijft de westerse verontwaardiging zoals die over de bevrijding van Oost-Ghouta?'

'Turkse illegale inval Syrië gaat gepaard met etnische zuivering.......'

Zie verder ook:
'VS oorlogshitsers wijzen hysterisch op aanslag als teken dat VS in Syrië moet blijven'

'CBC Nova Scotia meldt zojuist dat de eerste VS troepenvermindering in Syrië een feit is: 10 militaire trucks zijn de grens met Irak overgestoken...... ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!'

'Trumps beslissing de VS terug te trekken uit Syrië, wordt door Bolton en Netanyahu geblokkeerd'

Reactions to Trump’s Syria Withdrawal Plan Say More Than the Plan Itself

Trump’s Surprise Syria Pullout Fuels Backlash From Hawks Across DC

Officials: US Warplanes Will Stop Bombing Syria After Troops Leave

10 Takeaways on Mattis Exit and Possible US Withdrawal From Syria and Afghanistan

'US Set for “Full Withdrawal” From Syria as Trump Claims Victory'

VS vermoordt 40 burgers in de Syrische provincie Deir ez-Zor

Weer heeft de VS burgerdoelen aangevallen in de Oost-Syrische provincie Deir ez-Zor en weer gaat het om de plaats Hajin, waarbij dit keer 40 burgers werden vermoord, veelal vrouwen en kinderen, zo berichtte Press TV afgelopen zaterdag........ Twee dagen eerder werden 17 mensen van dezelfde familie vermoord bij een aanval van de VS coalitie...... Deze terreurcoalitie is volkomen illegaal in Syrië aanwezig, waarnaast deze aanvallen ook nog eens ernstige oorlogsmisdaden zijn, de bombardementen door de VS coalitie (NAVO leden....) kunnen niet anders worden gezien dan grootschalige terreur.......

Eerder vermoordde de VS terreurcoalitie al 6 burgers in dezelfde provincie en op 13 november j.l. maakte het Syrische ministerie van buitenlandse zaken bekend dat dezelfde VS terreurcoalitie 60 burgers heeft vermoord in de stad al-Shafaah.......

Het Syrische ministerie van buitenlandse zaken stelt voorts dat de VS coalitie met opzet Syrische burgers vermoord en daarbij ook nog eens het verboden chemische wapen witte fosfor gebruikt..... (de VS coalitie, bestaande uit de VS en andere NAVO leden, maakt zoals vanaf het begin van de VS bemoeienis, amper slachtoffers onder terreurgroep IS....) Het ministerie verlangt een internationaal onderzoek naar de oorlogsmisdaden van de VS coalitie en stelt daarbij dat alle resoluties van de VN-Veiligheidsraad t.a.v. Syrië op grote schaal worden geschonden, o.a. door:

• het eerder genoemde vermoorden van Syrische burgers
• het onnodig verlengen van de strijd in Syrië
• het vernietigen van de Syrische infrastructuur, inclusief grote delen van steden en dorpen
• het ondermijnen van de nationale integriteit en de soevereiniteit van Syrië........

De westerse wereld staat op de kop staat als het reguliere Syrische leger burgerslachtoffers maakt en dat n.a.v. berichten die de 'gematigde terreurgroepen' (lees: psychopathische moordenaars, verkrachters en martelbeulen) laten verspreiden door o.a. het Syrisch Observatorium voor Mensenrechten (SOHR)...... Berichten die voor het overgrote deel niet kunnen worden gecontroleerd en bij controle 'iets te vaak' op leugens blijken te berusten........ Terwijl diezelfde westerse wereld continu wegkijkt als de VS terreurcoalitie de ene slachting na de andere aanricht onder Syrische burgers...... (nogmaals: bestaande uit NAVO lidstaten o.l.v. de VS, de grootste terreurentiteit op aarde) 

Het volgende artikel komt van PressTV:

US-led coalition airstrikes kill 40 people in Syria's Dayr al-Zawr

Tags: Home Middle East Syria       Sat Nov 17, 2018 12:41PM

Dozens of civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed when the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group conducted fresh airstrikes against residential areas in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr.

Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Syria’s official news agency SANA that US-led military aircraft struck the village of al-Buqa'an on the outskirts of Hajin town on Saturday, leaving at least 40 people dead.

The development came only two days after 17 people of the same family lost their lives when US-led coalition fighter jets fired missiles into buildings in Albu Badran village.

Most of the slain civilians had apparently been displaced earlier from the nearby town of al-Baghuz in the Abu Kamal district of Dayr al-Zawr province. The town has recently witnessed fierce clashes between Daesh terrorists and militants from the Kurdish Democratic Union Party.

PressTV-US using white phosphorous bombs in Syria: Russia

Russia confirms media reports that the US is attacking civilian-populated areas in Syria with illegal ammunition.

Separately on Thursday, US-led warplanes struck al-Susah village in the same Syrian province. Six civilians were killed and several buildings destroyed in the aerial attacks.

On November 13, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned a recent airstrike by the US-led coalition against the eastern town of al-Shaafah, which left more than 60 people dead and injured, arguing that the massacre clearly pointed to the fact that members of the military alliance had no respect for moral values, international rules and regulations besides the lives of innocent civilians.

The ministry, in two separate letters, addressed to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the rotating president of the UN Security Council Ma Zhaoxu, called on the Security Council to fulfill its responsibilities and stop US-led aerial assaults.

PressTV-US-led coalition strikes kill 23 in Syria’s Dayr al-Zawr

At least 23 civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed when the US-led coalition bombarded areas in Syria's eastern Dayr al-Zawr province.

It also asked the world body to propose an international, independent and impartial mechanism to investigate the crimes being perpetrated by the US-led coalition.

The letters noted that the coalition was deliberately targeting Syria civilians and making use of internationally banned weapons, including white phosphorus bombs, in Syria.

The ministry stressed that US-led coalition airstrikes were meant to kill as many Syrian people as possible, prolong the ongoing Syrian conflict, destroy the country’s infrastructure and undermine its sovereignty and territorial integrity in flagrant violation of all UN Security Council resolutions on Syria.

The letters concluded that the embarrassing silence of the Security Council had encouraged the US-led coalition to kill more Syrian civilians and destroy their property.

PressTV-‘US-led coalition drops cluster bombs on Syrian towns’

US-led coalition warplanes have reportedly targeted the eastern Syrian towns of Hajin and al-Shaafah with internationally-banned cluster bombs.

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of achieving its declared goal of destroying Daesh.

=====================================
Voor het origineel, inclusief een video van iets meer dan 2 minuten, een video die ik niet kan overnemen, klik op deze link.

De Syrische provincie Dayr al-Zawr is in de labels direct onder dit artikel te vinden onder de naam die Nederland aanhoudt: 'Deir ez-Zor'.

Zie ook:
'Hele Syrische families in Raqqa uitgemoord door de VS'

'White Helmets is een terreurorganisatie, zie de bewijzen op Facebook: foto's van de W.H. leden'

'Nederland financiert terrorisme in Syrië........' 

'White Helmets >> terreurorganisatie, opgezet door Brits ex-officier en o.a. betaald door Nederland...........' 

'White Helmets terreurgroep wordt vandaag met open armen ontvangen in Tweede Kamer.....' (met video over samenwerking tussen Al Qaida en de White Helmets, zie ook de andere links in dat bericht)

EXPOSED: Syria’s White Helmets are Al Qaeda’s ‘Civil Defence’'

'WHO ARE THE ‘WHITE HELMETS?’ DO WE REALLY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING IN SYRIA?'

'SYRIA: The White Helmet Propaganda Heist – Vanessa Beeley Speaks to Rhymes Media Group'

'Westerse media vallen critici van de White Helmets aan'

'Gifgasaanval Idlib: de komende 'kindslachtoffers' worden getraind door terreurgroep White Helmets.........'

'Voorbeeld BBC en AD propaganda inzake Idlib (Syrië)'

'White Helmets oorlogsporno geweerd van Oscarceremonie' (2017)

'Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) laat weten hoe White Helmets vips rekruteren met Saoedisch geld....'

en terzijde:

'Hulpkonvooi aangevallen 'door Syrisch leger.....' Of toch niet??'

'Samantha Power Blames Everything on Russia - Defends US Attack On Syrian Troops'

'John Kerry: 'de VS kan niet alleen de deur naar de vrede openhouden....' ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!'

'The US Road Map To Balkanize Syria'

Hele Syrische families in Raqqa uitgemoord door de VS

Ruth Sherlock, Lama Al-Arian en Kamiran Sadoun hebben een artikel geschreven over de situatie in de Syrische stad Raqqa, een jaar nadat de stad door de VS werd gebombardeerd vanwege de aanwezigheid van IS, in wat destijds de hoofdstad van hun bloedige kalifaat was......

Dagelijks is men nog bezig om de lijken onder het puin vandaan te halen, zoals de skeletten van 2 Syrische meisjes...... Het zijn dan ook vooral burgerslachtoffers die men vindt in de ruïnes en massagraven.... Tot nu toe zijn meer dan 2.600 vermoorde slachtoffers gevonden, maar dat moeten er volgens de bevolking ter plaatse, duizenden meer zijn......... Er zijn overigens veel meer burgerslachtoffers gevallen in Raqqa dan IS terroristen......

Uit het hieronder opgenomen artikel wordt ten overvloede nog eens gemeld dat terreurgroep IS, als andere terreurgroepen ('gematigde rebellen') eerder, de bevolking verbood Raqqa te verlaten, op straffe van de dood...... Ik meld dit daar de reguliere westerse media en bijvoorbeeld het Syrisch Observatorium voor Mensenrechten (SOHR, geleid door een misdadiger) keer op keer met de leugen kwamen dat het reguliere Syrische legger vluchtelingen zou hebben doodgeschoten, zoals bij de belegering van Oost-Aleppo....... Terwijl het Syrische leger en de Russen juist vluchtcorridors instelden voor de bevolking, die zoals gezegd door scherpschutters van de 'gematigde rebellen' (financieel gesteund met o.a. ons belastinggeld...) onder vuur werden genomen.......

De VN en een paar landen smeekten de VS destijds te stoppen met de bombardementen op Raqqa, maar dat was als bij de eerdere belegering van het Iraakse West-Mosul tevergeefs...... 'Vreemd overigens' dat dit feit destijds niet of amper werd gemeld door de reguliere westerse media en als het al gemeld werd, dan weggestopt bijvoorbeeld op de laatste pagina van kranten behorend tot die westerse media..... (niet 'vreemd' dus, immers men staat bij die 'onafhankelijke' media ten volle achter de terreur die de VS uitoefent, waar dan ook over de wereld en die media gebruiken daarvoor niet alleen 'fake news' (nepnieuws), maar zoals gemeld verzwijgen ook simpel 'bepaalde nieuwsfeiten......')

Lees het volgende ontluisterende artikel en zegt het ajb voort, tijd dat de wereldbevolking eindelijk achter de waarheid komt en de VS, Saoedi-Arabië, Israël en de NAVO lidstaten gaat zien voor wat ze 'waard' zijn: bloeddorstige terreurstaten!!! De door de VS in Syrië georganiseerde 'opstand' (onder de Obama administratie met hoofdverantwoordelijke voor die opstand: Hillary Clinton...), een opstand die resulteerde in een oorlog en die zou tot nu toe in totaal al zo'n 500.000 mensen het leven hebben gekost....... De VS? De grootste terreurentiteit op aarde!!

EDITOR'S CHOICE | 12.11.2018

‘Entire Families Wiped Out': US Airstrikes Killed Many Civilians in Syria

Ruth SHERLOCK, Lama AL-ARIAN, Kamiran SADOUN

On a busy street corner in Raqqa, Syria, a digger pushes through the rubble of a building hit by an airstrike. Onlookers shield their mouths and noses from the dust and stench of corpses of those who perished beneath.

Just streets away, three recovery workers pull out the delicate skeletons of two children from under the debris of a partially collapsed home. And across the city, in what was once Raqqa's public park, men unearth more bodies from a mass grave.

"Raqqa did not deserve this destruction," says Yasser al-Khamis, who leads the city's emergency response team. "Of course, we understood its fate because it was the capital of ISIS, but we were hoping that the civilian death toll would be lower."

One year after the U.S.-led military campaign against ISIS ended in Raqqa, Khamis' team is still recovering the remains of the battle's casualties. This grim, daily work is revealing a civilian death toll that is dramatically higher than the assessment offered by the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS.

Yasser al-Khamis leads Raqqa's First Responders Team, a U.S.-funded group tasked with emergency work including pulling the bodies of casualties out of the rubble from the war against ISIS.

The rescue workers' findings, which they document in meticulous notes shown to NPR, point to an offensive that killed many more civilians than it did ISIS members, and where the majority of those civilians likely died in American airstrikes.

The U.S.-led coalition against ISIS has so far verified 104 unintended civilian casualties caused by its attacks in Raqqa and is investigating more cases, coalition spokesman Army Col. Sean Ryan tells NPR.

"With new information being submitted to the CivCas [civilian casualties] team by a multitude of sources every month, the numbers will presumably go up," Ryan adds.

The workers in Raqqa, however, estimate the real tally is much higher — likely in the "thousands."

Since January, the rescue team has uncovered more than 2,600 bodies. Through their identification process, they say they have found that most of the bodies were civilians killed in coalition airstrikes during the battle for Raqqa between June and October 2017.

Formally called the First Responders Team, the group receives funding from the U.S. government, but the assistance is limited. Its approximately 37 members work long hours for little pay — some are volunteers — and say their efforts are slowed by a lack of heavy machinery needed to access the bodies.

With many more corpses still under rubble, the rescue workers estimate it will take another year to clean the city of the dead.

Faster strikes and artillery barrages

Raqqa served as the capital of ISIS' self-proclaimed caliphate for almost four years after the militant group seized the city in 2014.

The U.S.-led coalition's offensive on Raqqa came after several years of fighting the extremist group in Iraq and other parts of Syria.

While campaigning for president, Donald Trump vowed to "bomb the s*** out of" ISIS.

In the months following his January 2017 swearing-in, conflict analysts reported increases in both the numbers of U.S. airstrikes and of civilians reported killed in the attacks.

President Trump reportedly handed decision-making power for major bombardments to the military, enabling airstrikes to be more easily called in by commanders on the ground during a battle.

In May 2017, Defense Secretary James Mattis told CBS News the U.S. was accelerating and intensifying the campaign against ISIS, and added, "We have already shifted from attrition tactics ... to annihilation tactics."

In Raqqa, the consequences of the "annihilation tactics" are still keenly felt.

According to Airwars, an independent research group monitoring the anti-ISIS conflicts in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. was responsible for about 95 percent of the airstrikes and all of the artillery barrages in Raqqa. The U.K. and France also participated in the offensive.

Data given to Airwars by the U.S. military's central command show the coalition launched at least 21,000 munitions — airstrikes and artillery — in the city in little over four months.

"Entire families have been wiped out"

By the end of the campaign, Raqqa was a wasteland of smashed concrete; its residential tower blocks were flattened and schools and hospitals toppled. A United Nations study found that over 80 percent of the city — originally home to some 220,000 people — is damaged or destroyed.

Many residents say they lost loved ones in the strikes.

Mohanned Tadfi, 41, recently buried his mother, his brother, his sister-in-law and seven nieces and nephews. "Ten people," he says. "A plane came and hit the house and the building of five floors fell on their heads."

Tadfi says his brother Latuf had found it too hard and dangerous for his family to leave. "ISIS was executing anyone from his neighborhood who tried to escape. And in any case, our mother is diabetic and can't walk well, and it was too difficult [to] carry her because the bridges out of the city had been bombed."

The family stayed in their basement apartment as the war intensified around them. The Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed militia, was closing in on the neighborhood and the family thought the fighters would soon capture the area from ISIS.

On Sept. 5, 2017, just after a muezzin in a nearby mosque called the end of noon prayers, an airstrike hit the building where Tadfi's family was. Another brother, Raed Tadfi, went to deliver insulin for their mother. He found Latuf dead on the steps and the building collapsed behind him.

Days later, SDF fighters seized control of the neighborhood. Tadfi says he and his brother asked the militia for access to the house. "Please, there are children under the rubble. My brother's children, young kids. Maybe even just one of them is still alive!" he recalls asking them.

But they were told the area was too dangerous for civilians. It wasn't until three months later that Tadfi was finally able to recover his loved ones. He hired a flatbed truck and took them away to graves he says he dug with his own hands.

The Tadfis' story is one of the cases being looked at by Donatella Rovera, a senior crisis response adviser for Amnesty International who has spent much of the last year in Raqqa. She compiles witness testimonies and analyzes war damage to buildings as part of an ongoing investigation to determine how many civilians were really killed in the coalition attacks.

The building in Raqqa of the former home of Latuf Tadfi and his family, which relatives say was hit by a U.S.-led coalition airstrike.

"This is one case of many that I have been investigating where entire families have been wiped out in places where they thought they would be safe," she says, standing beside the wreckage of the Tadfis home.

Determining casualties

In a statement responding to NPR, Col. Ryan, the spokesman of the Combined Joint Task Force, said the coalition conducted "thorough assessments" to ensure it didn't accidentally kill civilians. "The majority of strikes were executed as planned, but to say this was perfect execution from all sides is meaningless and we understand mistakes were made."

He said the coalition was "fighting a ruthless enemy that was systematically killing innocent civilians and unfortunately some were unintentionally killed trying to liberate them, something we tried to avoid."

Rovera doesn't dispute that ISIS tried to prevent civilians from leaving. But, she says,the military knew that before the battle and did not adjust their attack plan accordingly.

Her investigation so far suggests that "many hundreds" of civilians were killed in the Raqqa offensive, which she says prioritized speed, even in densely populated neighborhoods.

Testimony Rovera gathered from embedded journalists and SDF militia sources suggests that strikes sometimes came "within minutes" of a local commander choosing a target.

"If they had had observation for an adequate period of time, they would have realized that there were civilians in those buildings," she says. "Yes, the war probably would have taken more time. But more lives would have been saved."

The rescue unit says it determined most of the more than 2,600 recovered bodies were civilians in a few different ways. ISIS combatants often dressed a specific way and carried an ID card, the workers say. Other characteristics, such as victims' age and gender and testimony from families, also help in the team's documentation.

Rescuers say they recognize airstrike scenes from the scale of the destruction.

Airwars puts the civilian death toll in the Raqqa offensive at 1,400, but it believes the number could be higher. It gathers data largely remotely, through communication with sources and information from social media, and has not been able to verify every reported case.

"We expected a significantly higher portion of civilian harm reports to be determined as credible, since in Raqqa really the only player causing the destruction was the coalition," says Chris Woods, the director of Airwars.

He explains that the coalition has assessed and accepted only a fraction of the casualty reports from Raqqa than it did from the major campaign to drive ISIS from Mosul, Iraq, from October 2016 to July 2017.

"That suggests a political dimension to the decision-making process," he says. "We can't think of another explanation for that discrepancy."

Rovera, the Amnesty International adviser, says it is imperative that coalition forces send ground investigators into Raqqa. "Having dropped the bombs from the sky they should now be sending their investigators on the ground now to establish the facts of what was the impact of those strikes on the civilian population," she says.

Col. Ryan from the coalition said the existing coalition forces in Syria are not a trained investigative force and taking them away "from their mission is not advisable as the fight against this ruthless enemy continues."

For now, Raqqa's people are left to count their dead largely alone, while the U.S. and other powers strike elsewhere in Syria.

npr.org

Tags: Raqqa  War Crimes 
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Zie ook:
'White Helmets is een terreurorganisatie, zie de bewijzen op Facebook: foto's van de W.H. leden'

'VS heeft al 4 keer het verboden chemische wapen witte fosfor gebruikt' (in Syrië)

Voor meer berichten over Raqqa, Aleppo en/of Mosul, klik op het betreffende label, direct onder dit bericht.

Westerse media vallen critici van de White Helmets aan

Rick Sterling schreef een artikel op 'Oriental Review' over de aanvallen van de reguliere (massa-) media op critici van de White Helmets, kritiek die de wel nadenkende alternatieve media ook in Nederland voor de kiezen kreeg.....

Sterling wijst op een artikel van Janine di Giovani op de NY Reviews of Books getiteld: 'Why Assad and Russia Target the White Helmets'. Het artikel is een voorbeeld van hoe de westerse media propaganda maken voor de White Helmets en degenen aanvallen die de o.a. door die media geplugde mythe van de White Helmets bekritiseren.........

Zo heeft di Giovanni een grote bek over de echte oorlogscorrespondent Vanessa Beeley, één van de weinigen die wel regelmatig in het strijdgebied van Syrië te vinden was en die uitentreuren heeft geschreven over wat er werkelijk gebeurde in Syrië en zich niet verliet op de rapporten van het Syrische Observatorium voor Mensenrechten (SOHR), geleid door een gewezen misdadiger die zijn terechte straf ontliep door te vluchten en te stellen dat hij een politieke vluchteling was. De informatie van het SOHR kwam en komt voor het overgrote deel van de 'gematigde rebellen', die o.a. door Nederland werden gesteund.....

'Gematigde rebellen' ofwel moordenaars, verkrachters en martelbeulen, die bovendien met medeweten van de westerse landen in het bezit zijn van de gifgassen die door hen werden gebruikt om vervolgens de schuld in de schoenen van het reguliere Syrische leger werden geschoven......

Je snapt werkelijk niet waar di Giovanni het gore lef vandaan haalt om een uitstekend journalist als Beeley aan te vallen...... (hoewel, dat is onzin, immers di Giovanni huilt gewoon mee in het koor van de 'massamedia-terreurwolven...')

Een andere uitstekende journalist moet het ook al ontgelden bij di Giovanni, t.w.: Eva Bartlett, die zelf jaren in het Midden-Oosten heeft gewoond en goed is ingevoerd over de situatie in o.a. Syrië (en niet op grond van leugens die terreurgroepen verspreiden).....

Niet één keer gaat di Giovanni in op artikelen die deze twee journalisten schreven, nee zonder enige steekhoudende kritiek op geschreven artikelen, stelt di Giovanni domweg dat de 2 desinformatie verspreiden, waar ze Beeley zelfs durft af te schilderen als 'hogepriesters van Syrische propaganda', ofwel di Giovani draait de zaak volkomen om, immer zij maakt met dergelijke uitlatingen propaganda voor terreurgroepen, die voor het overgrote deel bestaan uit 'mannen' die niet eens Syriërs zijn......

Lees het uitstekende artikel van Sterling en geeft het door!

CHAOSISTAN, HYBRID WARS, INFORMATION WARFARE, ISRAEL, MIDDLE EAST, PHENOMENON 

OF TERRORISM, SYRIA, UNITED KINGDOM, UNITED STATES 

Western Media Attacks Critics of the White Helmets

Written by Rick STERLING on 24/10/2018

The October 16 issue of NY Review of Books has an article by Janine di Giovanni titled “Why Assad and Russia Target the White Helmets”. The article exemplifies how western media promotes the White Helmets uncritically and attacks those who challenge the myth.

Crude & Disingenuous Attack

Giovanni’s article attacks several journalists by name. She singles out Vanessa Beeley and echoes the Guardian’s characterization of Beeley as the “high priestess of Syria propaganda”. She does this without challenging a single article or claim by the journalist. She might have acknowledged that Vanessa Beeley has some familiarity with the Middle East; she is the daughter of one of the foremost British Arabists and diplomats including British Ambassador to Egypt. Giovanni might have explored Beeley’s research in Syria that revealed the White Helmets founder (British military contractor James Le Mesurier) assigned the name Syria Civil Defence despite the fact there is a real Syrian organization by that name that has existed since the 1950’s. For the past several years, Beeley has done many on-the-ground reports and investigations in Syria. None of these are challenged by Giovanni. Just days ago Beeley published a report on her visit to the White Helmets headquarters in Deraa.

Giovanni similarly dismisses another alternative journalist, Eva Bartlett. Again, Giovanni ignores the fact that Bartlett has substantial Middle East experience including having lived in Gaza for years. Instead of objectively evaluating the journalistic work of these independent journalists, Giovanni smears their work as “disinformation”. Presumably that is because their work is published at alternative sites such as 21st Century Wire and Russian media such as RT and Sputnik. Beeley and Bartlett surely would have been happy to have their reports published at the New York Review of Books, Newsweek or other mainstream outlets. But it’s evident that such reporting is not welcome there. Even Seymour Hersh had to go abroad to have his investigations on Syria published.

The New McCarthyism

Max Blumenthal is another journalist singled out by Giovanni. Blumenthal is the author of three books, including a NY Times bestseller and the highly acclaimed “Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel”. Giovanni describes his transition from “anti-Assad” to “pro-Assad” and suggests his change of perspective was due to Russian influence. She says, “Blumenthal went to Moscow on a junket to celebrate RT’s tenth anniversary. We don’t know what happened during that visit, but afterwards, Blumenthal’s views completely flipped.” Instead of examining the facts presented by Blumenthal in articles such as “Inside the Shadowy PR Firm that’s Lobyying for Regime Change in Syria”, Giovanni engages in fact-free McCarthyism. Blumenthal explained the transition in his thinking in a public interview. He also described the threats he experienced when he started to criticize the White Helmets and their public relations firm, but this is ignored by Giovanni.

Contrary to Giovanni’s assumptions, some western journalists and activists were exposing the White Helmets long before the story was publicized on Russian media. In spring 2015 the basic facts about the White Helmets including their origins, funding and role in the information war on Syria were exposed in my article “Seven Steps of Highly Effective Manipulators”. The article showed how the White Helmets were a key component in a campaign pushing for a “No Fly Zone” in Syria. It confirmed that the White Helmets is a political lobby force.

In spring 2016, Vanessa Beeley launched a petition “Do NOT give the Nobel Peace Prize to the White Helmets”. That petition garnered more support than a contrary petition urging the Nobel Prize committee to give the award to the White Helmets. Perhaps because of that, the petition was abruptly removed without explanation from the Change.org website. It was only at this time, with publicity around the heavily promoted nomination of the White Helmets for a Nobel Peace Prize that RT and other Russian media started to publicize and expose the White Helmets. That is one and a half years after they were first exposed in western alternative media.

White Helmets and Chemical Weapons Accusations 

Giovanni ignores the investigations and conclusions of some of the most esteemed American journalists regarding the White Helmets and chemical weapons incidents in Syria.

The late Robert Parry published many articles exposing the White Helmets, for example The White Helmets Controversy and Syria War Propaganda at the Oscars. Parry wrote and published numerous investigations of the August 2013 chemical weapons attack and concluded the attacks were carried out by an opposition faction with the goal of pressuring the US to intervene militarily. Parry also challenged western conclusions regarding incidents such as April 4, 2017 at Khan Shaykhun. Giovanni breathlessly opens her article with this story while Parry revealed the impossibility of it being as described.

“Buried deep inside a new U.N. report is evidence that could exonerate the Syrian government in the April 4 sarin atrocity and make President Trump look like an Al-Qaeda dupe.”

Legendary American journalist, Seymour Hersh, researched and refuted the assumptions of Giovanni and the media establishment regarding the August 2013 chemical weapons attacks near Damascus. Hersh’s investigation, titled The Red Line and Rat Line, provided evidence the atrocity was carried out by an armed opposition group with active support from Turkey. A Turkish member of parliament provided additional evidence. The fact that Hersh had to go across the Atlantic to have his investigation published suggests American not Russian disinformation and censorship.

In addition to ignoring the findings of widely esteemed journalists with proven track records, Giovanni plays loose with the truth. In her article she implies that a UN investigation blamed the Syrian government for the August 2013 attack. On the contrary, the head of the UN investigation team, Ake Sellstrom, said they did not determine who was responsible. “We do not have the evidence to say who did what ….The conflict in Syria is surrounded by a lot of rumors and a lot of propaganda, particularly when comes to the sensitive issue of chemical weapons.”

First Responders or Western Funded Propagandists?

Giovanni says, “But the White Helmets’ financial backing is not the real reason why the pro-Assad camp is so bent on defaming them. Since 2015, the year the Russians began fighting in Syria, the White Helmets have been filming attacks on opposition-held areas with GoPro cameras affixed to their helmets.”

In reality, the ‘White Helmets” have a sophisticated media production and distribution operation. They have much more than GoPro cameras. In many of their movie segments one can see numerous people with video and still cameras. Sometimes the same incident will be shown with one segment with an Al-Qaeda logo blending into the same scene with a White Helmets logo.

Giovanni claims “The Assad regime and the Russians are trying to neutralize the White Helmets because they   are potential witnesses to war crimes.” However the claims of White Helmet “witnesses” have little credibility. The White Helmet “volunteers” are paid three times as much as Syrian soldiers. They are trained, supplied and promoted by the same western states which have sought to regime change in Syria since 2011. An example of misleading and false claims by a White Helmets leader is exposed in Gareth Porter’s investigation titled “How a Syrian White Helmets Leader Played Western Media” . His conclusion could be directed to Giovanni and the NYReview of Books:

“The uncritical reliance on claims by the White Helmets without any effort to investigate their credibility is yet another telling example of journalistic malpractice by media outlets with a long record of skewing coverage of conflicts toward an interventionist narrative.”

When the militants (mostly Nusra / Al-Qaeda) were expelled from East Aleppo, civilians reported that the White Helmets were mostly concerned with saving their own and performing publicity stunts. For example the photo of the little boy in east Aleppo looking dazed and confused in the back of a brand new White Helmet ambulance was essentially a White Helmet media stunt eagerly promoted in the West. It was later revealed the boy was not injured, he was grabbed without his parent’s consent. Eva Bartlett interviewed and photographed the father and family for her story “Mintpress Meets the Father of Iconic Aleppo Boy and says Media Lied About his Son”.

A Brilliant Marketing Success

The media and political impact of the White Helmets shows what money and marketing can do. An organization that was founded by a military contractor with funding from a western governments was awarded the Rights Livelihood Award. The organization was seriously considered to received the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize just three years after its formation.

The Netflix infomercial “The White Helmets” is an example of the propaganda. The scripted propaganda piece, where the producers did not set foot in Syria, won the Oscar award for best short documentary. It’s clear that lots of money and professional marketing can fool a lot of people. At $30 million per year, the White Helmets budget for one year is more than a decade of funding for the real Syrian Civil Defence which covers all of Syria not just pockets controlled by armed insurgents.

Unsurprisingly, it has been announced that White Helmets will receive the 2019 “Elie Wiesel” award from the heavily politicized and pro-Israel Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. This, plus the recent “rescue” of White Helmets by the Israeli government, is more proof of the true colors of the White Helmets. Vanessa Beeley’s recent interview with a White Helmet leader in Deraa revealed that ISIS and Nusra terrorists were part of the group “rescued” through Israel.

The Collapsing White Helmets Fraud

Giovanni is outraged that some journalists have successfully challenged and put a big dent in the White Helmets  aura. She complains, “The damage the bloggers do is immense.”

Giovanni and western propagandists are upset because the myth is deflating. Increasing numbers of people – from a famous rock musician to a former UK Ambassador – see and acknowledge the reality.

As described in Blumenthal’s article, “How the White Helmets Tried to Recruit Roger Waters with Saudi Money”, rock legend Roger Waters says, “If we were to listen to the propaganda of the White Helmets and others, we would encourage our governments to start dropping bombs on people in Syria. This would be a mistake of monumental proportions…”

Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria, sums it up like this: “The White Helmets are jihadi auxiliaries… They are not, as claimed by themselves and by their supporters… simple rescuers. They are not volunteers. They are paid professionals of disinformation.”

Giovanni claims her article is a “forensic take down of the Russian disinformation campaign to distort the truth in Syria.” In reality, Giovanni’s article is an example of western disinformation using subjective attacks on critics and evidence-free assertions aligned with the regime change goals of the West.

Reposts are welcomed with the reference to ORIENTAL REVIEW.

Zie ook:
'White Helmets: naast gebruik van terreur ook schuldig aan orgaanhandel, vernietigende VN video presentatie'

Syria: The White Helmets Are Terrorist Auxiliaries

'White Helmets is een terreurorganisatie, zie de bewijzen op Facebook: foto's van de W.H. leden'

'White Helmets terreurgroep wordt vandaag met open armen ontvangen in Tweede Kamer.....'

'Nederland financiert terrorisme in Syrië........'

EXPOSED: Syria’s White Helmets are Al Qaeda’s ‘Civil Defence’'

'WHO ARE THE ‘WHITE HELMETS?’ DO WE REALLY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING IN SYRIA?'

 'SYRIA: The White Helmet Propaganda Heist – Vanessa Beeley Speaks to Rhymes Media Group'

'EXPOSED: The White Helmets – Al Qaeda with US funding'

'Westerse media vallen critici van de White Helmets aan'

'Gifgasaanval Idlib: de komende 'kindslachtoffers' worden getraind door terreurgroep White Helmets.........'

'Voorbeeld BBC en AD propaganda inzake Idlib (Syrië)'

'Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) laat weten hoe White Helmets vips rekruteren met Saoedisch geld....'

'Gifgasaanval vooropgezet spel om VS actie te rechtvaardigen, waarbij GB de spelers opdracht gaf dit toneelspel snel uit te voeren........ 'False flag gelukt': Syrië gebombardeerd zonder enig bewijs voor schuld.....'

'Van Helvert (CDA Tweede Kamer): wil dat er een tribunaal komt voor Syriëgangers, terwijl hij de terroristen in Ghouta wil beschermen.......'

'White Helmets nogmaals ontmaskert als terreurorganisatie: de oprichter is een Britse ex-huurling.......'

'White Helmets oorlogsporno geweerd van Oscarceremonie'

'White Helmets >> terreurorganisatie, opgezet door Brits ex-officier en o.a. betaald door Nederland...........'

Voor meer berichten over/met de White Helmets, Vanessa Beeley of Eva Bartlett, klik op het betreffende label, direct onder dit bericht.