The Russian intervention in Syria changed the military situation drastically. With Russian help the Syrian government was able to turn the tide and the U.S.-U.K.-Israel agenda of regime change in Syria through ISIS et al received serious setbacks. This is an important factor to be kept in view when evaluating charges by the U.S. and it’s allies that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its own citizens in 2017. When the Russians intervened militarily in 2015, the ISIS/ISIL was stealing oil worth $3 million per day. The Russian air attacks led to a drop in the oil theft to $1.5 million per day. The serious damage inflicted by the Russians on ISIS/ISIL derailed the U.S.-U.K.-Israel plans for complete dismemberment of Syria and for regime change in whatever was left under the control of Assad.
When the U.S. government alleged that chemical weapons had been employed by the Syrian government in April 2017 the now controversial organization White Helmets was involved in initiating and promoting that claim. It was White Helmets that began transmitting video clips and photographs of victims in great distress on April 4, 2017. These disturbing pictures were widely projected on U.S. media speedily. The very next day, on April 5, 2017 Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. threatened that if the U.N. did not take action against the Syrian government the U.S. would be “compelled” to take its own action. Such a statement was not a very responsible statement because the veracity of these pictures could not possibly have been checked within 24 hours for Nikki Haley to issue such a statement. And, in any case, pictures do not constitute proof.
The threat made by ambassador Nikki Haley was based first and foremost on the pictures that were transmitted by White Helmets. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to take a good look at who created the White Helmets and who funds them. That will help in clarifying for whom do they really work. Max Blumenthal has closely analysed the White Helmets in a two-part article posted in October 2016. He writes:
“But like the Syria Campaign, the White Helmets are anything but impartial. Indeed, the group was founded in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Office of Transitional Initiatives, an explicitly political wing of the agency that has funded efforts at political subversion in Cuba and Venezuela. USAID is the White Helmet’s principal funder, committing at least $23 million to the group since 2013. This money was part of $339.6 million budgeted by USAID for ‘supporting activities that pursue a peaceful transition to a democratic and stable Syria’ or establishing a parallel governing structure that could fill the power vacuum once Bashar Al-Assad was removed.”
Everyone dealing with such matters knows that USAID functions as a front for the CIA and it is an established fact that USAID works with and for the CIA on a worldwide basis.

The writer is Vice Chancellor University of South Asia. He can be reached at: [email protected]