By



Finian Cunningham

Sputnik

Among the NATO allies decrying “war crimes” in Syria, France is taking a lead role in the chorus denouncing Russia. The latest outburst comes from French President Francois Hollande who says he wants Russia charged with war crimes at the International Criminal Court.

Just to rub it in and pretend to be all superior, Hollande is also demurring on cancelling a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin who is due in Paris next week.

The US, Britain and France have all been banging on the rhetorical drums accusing Russia and its Syrian ally of gross violations. The alleged violations stem from the renewed military offensive to fully capture the city of Aleppo. But let’s be clear: the offensive is aimed at retaking the second most important city in Syria back from Western-backed terrorist proxies who have been holding the civilian population as hostages since 2012.



Sheikh Maqsoud, the northern entrance point into Government held West Aleppo. Decimated by 4 years of US coalition backed terrorist groups. (Photo: Vanessa Beeley Aug 2016)

The Syrian-Russian operation resumed after a ceasefire failed due to the Western-backed militants refusing to halt their attacks on the Syrian army, civilians and UN humanitarian aid convoys. The criminal nature of these militants – dominated by the al-Qaeda terror group al-Nusra Front – and their covert connections to Western governments have been well documented by informed media sources – albeit obfuscated by Western news outlets, so there is no need to delay here on qualifying that assessment.

Western state and media hysteria over alleged war crimes in Aleppo is due to the imperative need to thwart the Syrian and Russian military campaign from defeating the militants. The American CIA and British and French counterparts have invested billions of dollars to arm the terror proxies in the covert war for regime change in Syria. The foreign conspirators can’t just let their regime-change criminal enterprise be liquidated.

They are desperate to salvage their terror investment, and so blackening both Syria and Russia by contriving a “humanitarian crisis” and alleging “war crimes” is a propaganda device for that purpose. Both Syria and Russia have categorically denied hitting civilian centers. They say their ground and air operations are directed at terrorists that are callously using besieged civilians as human shields. There are credible reports that al Nusra and affiliated brigades have taken over hospitals in east Aleppo and are using the rooftops as sniper nests.

America, Britain and France are evidently coordinating a political and media campaign at the United Nations to push their “war crimes” agenda. But it is the French who appear to be taking on a prominent role in trying to browbeat Russia with accusations.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault flew to Moscow last week apparently calling for a ceasefire in Syria. Within hours, he was then off to Washington where he and US Secretary of John Kerry promptly began accusing Russia of “war crimes”. Russia has sternly repudiated the allegations as bogus, but still the French keep leveling them.

Francois Hollande reiterated the war crimes rap this week, pointing to Russia’s veto at the UN Security Council blocking a French call for a truce in Aleppo. Hollande is being economical with the truth. Russia vetoed the French draft because it called for a no-fly zone in Aleppo, which would have, in effect, given the terrorists air cover.



Remnants of Nusra Front aka Al Qaeda shell, fired from East Aleppo into West Aleppo. (Photo: SANA)

Significantly, an alternative Russian proposal for a general ceasefire not specifying a no-fly zone was rejected by France and its Western allies. There is a good explanation for why the French government has taken on a especially vocal role in the Western media campaign to smear Russia.

That’s because France is a sponsor of the terrorist propaganda machine based in Aleppo.

Having a direct “media feed” from the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front terror group that dominates besieged eastern Aleppo, the French government then displays a certain “savoir faire” in relaying this terrorist propaganda. The hub in the Western-orchestrated information war over Syria is the so-called “Aleppo Media Center.” It is funded by the media agency of the French foreign ministry, Canal France International (CFI).

According to CFI documents, the Aleppo Media Center is also funded by the US State Department and the European Union. The Aleppo Media Center also works closely with the so-called White Helmets which purports to be a “first-responder” humanitarian group that rushes to the scene of air strikes. But the White Helmets are far from “independent” or “Syrian”. It is funded by the US State Department and was set up by a British army officer James Le Mesurier financed by Britain’s Ministry of Defense.

These organizations work under the control of the al-Nusra Front terror network and its affiliated brigades in east Aleppo. As investigative journalist Vanessa Beeley who recently visited the city reported, the alleged photographer Mahmoud Raslan, who furnished the emotive image of a young boy apparently hurt in an air strike, is embedded with al-Nusra terrorists, the White Helmets and the Aleppo Media Center.

Thus, Western governments and mass media are relying entirely on a source of information out of east Aleppo that is not only integrated with terror groups; it is funded by Western governments.

French news outlets in particular, like state-owned France 24, routinely broadcast video footage from east Aleppo that is supplied from the Nusra-linked White Helmets and Aleppo Media Center, which, as noted, is financed by the French foreign ministry. Talk about self-serving.

Why the French have come to play an important role in the Western information war is no doubt because they have the logistical connections to the terror media operations. Several other radio stations have been set up in northern Syria by the French foreign ministry since the beginning of the foreign-instigated covert war for regime change in 2011. And, of course, French colonial and linguistic legacy in Syria also gives it a certain advantage over the Americans and British in facilitating the propaganda war.

The impact of this French-sponsored misinformation is impressive. This week Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton accused Russia of “aggression” in a nationwide TV debate, while a former British cabinet minister compared Russia with “Nazi Germany”. These claims are given full vent in the Western media without question. Even though they are based on information coming from terrorist sources in Aleppo. And not only that but the terrorist sources are set up and funded by the French, American and British governments.

This connection is fully consistent with how these NATO governments have funded, armed and trained terrorist death squads to fight in Syria for their strategic objective of regime change against an ally of Russia and Iran.



REAL Syria Civil Defence in Damascus. In 2014 this fire truck was hit by a US-coalition terrorist launched guided missile that murdered three crew members on their way to rescue civilians from a recent terrorist mortar attack that had demolished homes south of Homs. (Photo: Vanessa Beeley)

The US, Britain and France, along with regional partner regimes, unleashed a war on the Syrian nation that has caused millions of dead, maimed, orphaned and homeless.

A war involving the most barbaric crimes committed against innocents by Western-backed death squads.

A war that has repeated the same Western crimes committed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and many other countries down through the decades, including this author’s home country, Ireland.

The people who should be hauled to the International Criminal Court to face war crime charges are the very Western political leaders who have the audacity to smear Russia.

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LINKS & MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE WHITE HELMETS:

White Helmets: ‘A Pseudo NGO’

CrossTalk: ‘White Helmets, Really?’ with Vanessa Beeley, Eva Bartlett & Patrick Henningsen

Report by Patrick Henningsen

AN INTRODUCTION: Smart Power & The Human Rights Industrial Complex

Open Letter by Vanessa Beeley

White Helmets Campaign for War NOT Peace – Retract RLA & Nobel Peace Prize Nominations

Original investigative report:

The REAL Syria Civil Defence Exposes Fake White Helmets as Terrorist-Linked Imposters

Staged Rescue Videos

(VIDEO) White Helmets: Miraculous ‘Rag Doll Rescue’

Mainstream Media: Fake News

CNN’s Claim That ‘White Helmets Center in Damascus’ Was Hit by a Barrel Bomb

White Helmets and Mayday Rescue:

The Syrian Civil Defence: Wikipedia

21st Century Wire compilation of key information on the White Helmets:

Who are the Syria White Helmets?

21st Century Wire article on the White Helmets:

Syria’s White Helmets: War by Way of Deception ~ the “Moderate” Executioners

Cory Morningstar report:

Investigation into the funding sources of the White Helmets, Avaaz, Purpose, The Syria Campaign

Report by Scott Ritter:

The ‘White Helmets’ and the Inherent Contradiction of America’s Syria Policy

Open letter to Canada’s NDP Leader on Nobel Prize:

Letter to NDP from Prof. John Ryan protesting White Helmet nomination for RLA and Nobel Peace Prize

White Helmets: Bogus Claims:

‘We Saved 60,000’ – Bogus Claim by Syria’s White Helmets Raises Even More Questions

READ MORE WHITE HELMET NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire White Helmet Files

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