Unequivocally, the settlement of some members of the 'White Helmets' constitutes a real and potent threat to British national security and to the safety of the British public, according to the British political analyst Dr. Marcus Papadopoulos, who asserts that the'White Helmets' have not only been complicit in crimes against humanity but they have actually instigated such crimes in Syria.

In an interview with the Syriatimes e-newspaper about the settlement of the 'White Helmets' in several western countries and the consequences for the countries which have supported the terrorists in Syria as well as why his passion for Syria came about,

the founder and editor of the 'politics First' magazine said: " The members of the White Helmets are not only religious extremists - Wahhabists - but, even worse, they are some of the most violent and depraved people you will ever come across in this life."

"let me tell you this: many of the crimes perpetrated against humanity are some of the worst imaginable - heinous does not come anywhere close to describing what the White Helmets have done to Syrian civilians and Syrian prisoners of war. The details of their crimes - which I have learnt about from friends and contacts in Syria - are too disturbing to talk about here but it is suffice to say that the White Helmets have demonstrated that human beings can be capable of carrying out acts which defy comprehension. So, with that in mind, the fact that some members of the White Helmets are now in the UK constitutes a real and potent threat to British national security and to the safety of the British public. Not only will they be able to freely walk the streets of British towns and cities spreading religious extremism but they have the capacity for violence, or, more specifically, terrorism.," he added.

Dr. Papadopoulos affirmed that he would not be surprised in the least if there is a thwarted terrorist attack or an actual terrorist attack in the future in Britain involving a member, or more than member, of the White Helmets.

" In such a scenario, how would the British authorities respond? By saying something along the lines of: 'The involvement of a member of the White Helmets in this monstrous act was an isolated case and does not represent the overwhelming majority of the White Helmets, who have risked their own lives in the face against terror.' Alas, the lives of ordinary Britons are being gambled with by their own authorities. Despicable, to say the least," he said.

No place, at all, for Wahhabism and its adherents in a post-war Syria

Asked about his opinion regarding the fate of the approximate 14.000 ISIS and al-Nusra Front who exist now in Idlib - north of Syria, Dr. Papadopoulos underlined that those terrorists cannot be rehabilitated - after all, serial killers are beyond help and, more importantly, do not deserve help or sympathy. And putting them in prison is risky because, whilst there, they will try and spread their vile extremist ideology - Wahhabism - to other prisoners thus infecting more minds.

"Now that Daraa and Quneitra have been liberated by the Syrian army and air force, Damascus' attention is on Idlib. Whilst there are behind-the-scenes talks between Russia and Turkey to try and resolve the future of Idlib peacefully, I believe that liberating this region by force, or, at least, parts of it by force, is unavoidable. And it is absolutely vital to the security of Syria in a post-war world that the 14,000 ISIS and Al-Nusra terrorists are not allowed to remain in the country. The Syrian military must either force them to retreat into Turkey, where they would feel very much at home, or neutralise them on the battlefield," he said, asserting that there can be no place, at all, for Wahhabism and its adherents in a post-war Syria because, otherwise, they will simply keep their heads down until they have another opportunity to wreak carnage .

Moreover, the British analyst made it clear that he ISIS and Al-Nusra terrorists who will retreat into Turkey will, undoubtedly, be allowed to live and work in the country and will probably be called upon, one day, by the Turkish authorities and its backers in Washington and London to go and fight a new war on the territory of another country.

"Let me remind you that since Afghanistan in the 1980s, Islamist militants have been one of the West's most potent weapons at its disposal in its pursuit of geo-strategic objectives - from Bosnia to Chechnya to Kosovo to Libya to Syria," Dr. Papadopoulos said.

SDF

He, in addition, commented on the forthcoming military campaign to liberate Idlib by saying: " The campaign to liberate Idlib will be the final one of the war because after Idlib there will be no territory in Syria controlled by terrorists. What we will see once the north-west of Syria is freed, are negotiations between the Syrian Government and the Syrian Kurds regarding the area currently controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, which, let us not forget, have been receiving aid from Damascus throughout most of the conflict; indeed, the Kurds took control of much of the north-east of Syria with the consent of Damascus so that Syrian army formations stationed there would be free to fight the terrorists in other parts of the country."

the British analyst fully endorses the ongoing talks in Damascus between the Syrian Government and the SDF.

"I fully endorse the ongoing talks in Damascus between the Syrian Government and the SDF because they are allies and have much to gain by coming to an agreement with each other, and, conversely, have much to lose if they fail to come to an agreement, which I do not believe will actually happen. I only wish that Damascus and the Syrian Kurds had been more united in the summer of 2012, as I said at the time they should be, because this failure resulted in the terrorists securing control of the Syrian-Turkish border and this is when Syria found itself in a perilous situation. But that is water under the bridge, so to speak. What matters now is for the Kurds to have some form of autonomy, while the border with Turkey is to come under, once again, the jurisdiction of Damascus, with the Syrian flag flying there and with the border patrolled by the Syrian army."

Unintended consequences

As for what have been achieved by the countries which have supported the terrorists in Syria, Dr.Papadopoulos said: " those countries have achieved the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Syrians, and they have also weakened Syria overall but only in the short-term, in my opinion. The Syria that will arise from this ghastly war will be more united and resilient than ever before and will be stronger than ever before. And with Russia now having a very powerful military presence in Syria, this will only enhance Syrian security in the long-term."

He also numbered several unintended consequences for the countries which have supported the terrorists in Syria.

"There are also unintended consequences for the countries which have supported the terrorists in Syria. Firstly, their actions resulted in Russia returning to the Middle East in a very resurgent way, from which Moscow now has an appeal to people across the region; secondly, an unofficial alliance of Russia, Syria and Iran has emerged, which will counter the unofficial alliance of America, Israel and Saudi Arabia; and thirdly, the terrorist threat in America and especially in Britain has become all the more severe. Regarding the last unintended consequence, there is the old and very true saying: "If you play with fire, you get burned." However, it is ordinary, innocent Britons and Americans who are now exposed to that fire."

He went on to say: "Today, the conflict in Syria is finally coming to an end, meaning that peace will return to the lives of the Syrian people, although there will be the challenge of rebuilding the infrastructure of the country and achieving reconciliation in the parts which witnessed the bulk of the fighting. But given that the Syrian people have overcome what can only be described as pure evil, I have no doubt, whatsoever, that they will successfully rebuild their country and surpass the level of security and stability that they enjoyed prior to 2011," he said.

Syrian people would prevail against the Western-backed Wahhabist hordes

Dr. Papadopoulos' interest in Syria, which would eventually lead him to a passion for the country, emerged in August 1991, when he was on holiday with my family in Cyprus. He was 12 years old at the time and was having dinner one night in The Old Limassol Restaurant, in the port city of Limassol. His Father was telling him that Syria was ready to go to war with Turkey as a result of Turkish threats to restrict the flow of water running into Syria from the Euphrates. He told him that Syria had long supported Cyprus against Turkey and that the Syrians had a very close relationship with Russia, or the Soviet Union, as it was then. His Father added to the point about the Syrian-Russian friendship by saying to him that: "You should learn about Syria because the country is a good friend to Russia" (His love for Russia was very well established by then and his Father knew this).

So, on returning to the UK from my holiday in Cyprus, He began reading about the history, politics, culture and geography of Syria, at his local library, though his initial focus was on the relationship between Damascus and Moscow. The more he read, and the older he became, the more intrigued and fascinated he became with Syria and the Syrian people. He discovered that Damascus is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, going back 11,000 years; he learnt of the ancient Christian town of Maaloula where the people there speak the language of Jesus Christ, Aramaic; He read about the remarkable Umayyad Mosque in Damascus; he saw photographs of ancient Greek and Roman sites in Syria, such as Apamea and Palmyra; he was spellbound by the beauty of the Syrian coastline; he was enthused by how Syria had one of the lowest crime rates of any country in the world; he was fascinated by the ancient and mysterious ethnic and religious groups in the country, such as the Druze and the Assyrians; he was delighted at the close relationship between Syria and Yugoslavia, under Hafez Al-Assad and Josip Broz Tito, respectively; and he was captivated by how mosques and churches stood side by side in Syria, with imams and priests holding prayers in each other's temples (Syria is one of the most successful examples of multiculturalism anywhere in the world).

Soon after he completed his PhD, in late 2006, he became a reporter and writer for Tribune (a socialist publication in the UK founded by Sir Stafford Cripps and George Strauss and which George Orwell was once the literary editor of) and would, from time to time, write articles relating to Syria. In one such article, published in 2007, he wrote that Russia, as part of its campaign to reassert itself in the international arena, would look to strengthen its military presence in Syria.

By the time that the sickening war on Syria commenced, in 2011, his passion for the country was intense and he was only too eager to start giving television interviews and writing articles, in the fall of 2011, on the war which was being waged on the Syrian people by Wahhabist terrorists supported by the West, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The brutal and merciless campaign against Syria has left an impact on him; the staggering loss in Syrian life and the destruction wrought on one of the most ancient, special and beautiful of countries in the world, defies belief. And the nature of the terrorists who have been sent into Syria to wage war against the Syria people gives a whole new meaning to the word depraved.

"Despite the grim situation which Syria found itself in, from 2012 to 2015, Inever lost my belief that the Syrian people would prevail against the Western-backed Wahhabist hordes, and his conviction that Russia's support to the Syrian people would continue, unabated, never faltered, " Dr. Papadopoulos concluded.

Interviewed by: Basma Qaddour