From
the Kosovo Protection Corps in the Balkans to the White Helmets of
Syria, a group of well-connected people with the fundings of
governments and elite billionaires have sought to wage a war on
public opinion and have recently exploited Jo Cox’s death to do so.
by
Vanessa Beeley and Whitney Webb
Part
6 - Ayman Asfari extends influence in Syria
In May
2016, the Asfari Foundation (covered in part 1 of this series) teamed
up with the Said Foundation to raise money for the Hands Up for Syria
Appeal. The Asfari and Said Foundations matched the £ 3.997 million
that was raised for “millions of young children” deprived of an
education during the seven-year conflict in Syria. Speakers at the
event included then-British Prime Minister David Cameron; David
Miliband — President and CEO of International Rescue Committee; and
actress Cate Blanchett, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador. Prince Charles
sent a video message emphasizing the importance of education to the
rebuilding of Syria.
Again
there was no mention of the root cause of the issues being
highlighted. Money was effectively raised to treat the symptoms of
the British imperialist project inside Syria that violates
international law on many counts. Why would the British
monarch-in-waiting have any involvement in the “rebuilding” of a
sovereign nation that his successive Tory governments have, alongside
their allies in the U.S. coalition of proxy terror, systematically
destabilized and weakened?
The
money raised will be funneled into Idlib via the Hands Up Foundation,
which claims to raise money for “vital health services” in North
West Syria, a region infested with all manner of extremist and
terrorist groups. Many of those groups have been evacuated to Idlib
from liberated areas of Syria such as East Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta,
increasing the numbers of armed, hostile groups in the area. It is
worth remembering that OPCW refused to enter this area after the
alleged chemical attacks in Khan Sheikhoun April 2017 because the
risk of beheading or kidnapping was too high.
Hands Up
Foundation operates in partnership with SAMS (Syrian American Medical
Society), which works with the White Helmets alongside the
controlling extremist factions where they are based. SAMS is a
predominantly Chicago based, Muslim Brotherhood organization that
receives copious funding from USAID, the U.S. State Department
outreach agent for CIA clandestine operations against target nations.
USAID has also donated $31 million to the White Helmets via
Chemonics, one of its many subcontractors.
While 85
percent of inhabited Syria under Syrian government protection and
control suffers under the weight of U.S./U.K./EU imposed sanctions
that have targeted the Syrian state health sector, Hands Up
Foundation is raising money for “medical salaries” of $150,000
per year at a health clinic “south of Aleppo.” Another project
claims to be raising $105,000 for “medical training” in Idlib
City, which was invaded by Nusra Front (Al Qaeda) in March 2015 —
an invasion that resulted in the summary executions of civilians who
were deemed “Shabiha,” a term that designates loyalty to the
Syrian government, state and Syrian Arab Army. The White Helmets were
filmed alongside the terrorist fighters, celebrating and
participating in brutality against civilians.
According
to Hands Up Foundation accounts for 2017, it has received a three
year organizational development grant of £150,000 from the Asfari
and SAID Foundations, “central” to achieving its aims in Idlib.
While HUF makes claims of transparency and a document trail to
recipients of its funding, there is nothing available to that effect
on the website. Money is raised through its Syrian Supper Club,
Marmalaid, and Singing for Syrians projects.
HUF
focuses on three medical clinics, one in Reyhanli on the Turkish
border and two inside northern Syria, in partnership with SAMS, which
also operates in these areas. The placement of these clinics is
important and will be examined in greater depth in Part 4.
The Said
Foundation also appears to be involved in the training of paramedics
in the same region of Syria — at the Bab Al Hawa hospital, in
partnership with U.K.-registered charity Syria Relief. While the
White Helmets are not mentioned, it is safe to assume that this “aid”
will be heading their way. The screenshot is from an archive of this
page on the Said website, as it now requires a “login” to view
the information.
The
clusters of medical centers supported by these foundations and
charities are based exclusively in areas occupied by and under the
control of U.S. coalition-backed armed groups. How do we know that
the funding is not ending up in the hands of those groups as part of
the “moderate opposition” bankrolling scheme?
Syria
Relief comes under the umbrella of UOSSM (Union of Medical Care and
Relief Organisations), founded in France in 2012. UOSSM makes the
same lofty claims as the White Helmets: “To support the health
and well being of individuals and communities affected by the Syrian
crisis regardless of nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, or
political affiliation.” The Union includes SAMS. In my
experience of entering the hospitals of East Aleppo after liberation
in December 2016, SAMS and UOSSM stickers and logos could be seen on
the walls of all the medical centers that had been overrun and
requisitioned by Nusra Front, Ahrar Al Sham and other extremist
groups. Those hospitals included the infamous M10 hospital next door
to Nusra Front and White Helmet headquarters in Sakhour, East Aleppo.
Again
and again, we demonstrate the close-knit regime-change community, as
diverse as it is deadly for Syria and the Syrian people, who have
endured seven years of war owing largely to the efforts of these
organizations to sustain the narratives that dupe people in the West
into believing in the case for “humanitarian” intervention. An
intervention that obfuscates the underlying causes while amplifying
the fraudulent cover stories for another neocon destabilization
campaign in Syria.
The
diversity and complex branding of all these foundations, think tanks,
organizations, NGOs, and associated charities can be compared to the
rebranding of the terrorist groups, in particular Nusra Front (Al
Qaeda). It serves to confuse, to bury the evidence of involvement in
questionable activities deep inside the soft-power-complex
underbelly.
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