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. 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.
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.
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. 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.
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 is 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.
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.
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.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.
