White Helmets Preparing ‘False-Flag Chemical Attack’ in Syria’s Idlib, Russia Warns
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Militants affiliated with al-Qaeda and White Helmets are preparing to stage a chemical attack in Idlib province as the Syrian army continues to advance, the Russian Reconciliation Center said citing a tip from local residents.
Members of the so-called civil defense group White Helmets were noticed arriving at the town of Ma’arat al-Artik, about 11 kilometers (7 miles) northwest of Aleppo. According to the call that came in on the reconciliation center’s hotline on Monday evening, they were preparing a “provocation with the use of poisonous agents.”
About 15 ‘White Helmets’ were spotted in the town, alongside militants from the Takfiri Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group, said two local residents, adding that two vehicles have delivered about 400 liters (100 gallons) of chemicals to the town, RT reported.
Some 200 people, including children – mostly family members of HTS militants, which had been evacuated to Idlib from elsewhere in Syria – could be involved in staging the false-flag chemical attacks, the tipsters said.
The Reconciliation Center named the militant commander involved in the plan as Mahi al-Din al-Am, saying it was the same man who helped stage and film the graphic aftermath of the alleged chemical attack at Khan Shaykhun in April 2017.
The center called on the militants to abandon their “criminal plan” and called on Turkey – which recently sent troops into militant-controlled Idlib – to exert “all possible pressure” to prevent a false flag.
Chemical attacks happen to take place every time the Syrian army is advancing against the militants, who have tried time and again to attract Western military intervention on their behalf.
Following the 2017 Khan Shaykhun incident, the US launched missiles against Syria; another air and missile attack was launched in April 2018, after an “attack” at Douma near Damascus.