THE US is handing millions of dollars of cash over to the White Helmets organisation, the Syrian and Russian coordination committees said on Tuesday.
The committees, which fight for the return of displaced Syrians also said that the US is forcibly detaining displaced Syrians in al-Rukban camp in disastrous conditions.
In a joint statement, the committees said the United States allocated ‘aid’ during the recent conference in Brussels which will not go to the Syrian people; rather it will be given to the White Helmets terrorists to fund their acts of fabricating incidents involving toxic chemicals.
The US State Department announced on March 14 that it will give USD 5 million to the White Helmets which is affiliated to the Jabhat al-Nusra terror organisation, while Qatar gave the organisation USD 2 million on February 3.
The statement said that the participants in the Brussels conference who claim to be helping Syrians are the ones who impose severe economic sanctions on Syrians, noting that the money raised will go only to displaced people in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey, which seeks to encourage displaced people to remain there and hinders their return to Syria.
The committees reiterated their demands for the US to provide access to al-Rukban camp to evacuate the civilians there, as well as their demands for the US forces to leave al-Tanf area.
‘The White Helmets’ is the special mission’s arm of Jabhat al-Nusra and Daesh, in addition to the role of this organisation in fabricating lies, scenarios and videos about the chemical attacks issue in Syria.
Syria has strongly condemned the US administration’s support offered to the terrorist organisations in Syria, affirming that this support will not affect Syria’s firm stance in combating terrorism and the foreign occupation until liberating the last inch of its territory.
‘The US continues its flagrant support to terrorism to which Syria is exposed, in a flagrant and continued violation of the UN charter and rules of international law as well as all relevant resolutions,’ an official spokesman at Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said in a statement.
The spokesman added that this desperate US step, which followed a similar one by the Qatar sheikdom, stresses that the US still bets on supporting terrorism to achieve the goal of its special agendas in Syria and the region in service of the Israeli occupation.
He concluded by saying that the Syrian Arab Republic strongly condemns the acts of the US administration in offering secret and declared support to terrorist organisations including the so-called ‘White Helmets’.
The spokesman called on the US administration to respect the UN Security council resolutions regarding combating terrorism and halting the financing of Jabhat al-Nusra and other affiliated terrorist organisations.
Meanwhile, also on Tuesday, the Syrian authorities, while securing the areas cleared of terrorism by the Syrian army found a warehouse full of weapons.
The warehouse is located in the farms of Talbisseh about 13km north of Homs.
The authorities, in cooperation with residents, found a warehouse in Talbisseh farms containing a quantity of weapons and ammunition, including 300 mortars and hell cannons and 25kg of high-explosive C4 material left behind by terrorist organisations.
On March 12, while combing and securing the areas cleared of the terrorist organisations by the Syrian army, authorities found dozens of mines and explosive devices in al-Sukhneh city and its surroundings about 80km east of Palmyra.
- Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis affirmed that solving the crisis in Syria and restoring security and peace to the country comes ‘in the interest of Europe as the Syrians will be able to return to their homeland’.
Interviewed by Czech Lidové Noviny newspaper, Babis said: ‘The situation in Syria should be resolved and the war end, and the reconstruction process should start and people return to their homes.’
Babis indicated that he tackled the issue of the situation in Syria during his recent talks with US President Donald Trump at the White House because he is interested in the issue from the humanitarian side.
He added that Prague could be the perfect place to host a meeting between the US President Donald Trump and the Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold talks on solving the crisis in Syria.
Last November, Babis announced his country’s intention to establish an orphanage in Syria in coordination with the Syrian government.
Meanwhile, Russian Defence Minister, Sergey Shoigu, said that in the upcoming months, Moscow will share its files on restoring Syria’s Palmyra with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) which includes a 3D model.
Shoigu also President of the Russian Geographical Society (RGO) said in an interview with Russian media outlets, ‘Earlier, the UN world heritage organisation had emphasised the need to raise funds for restoring Syria’s internationally-renowned cultural site.
‘When we called for that, saying well, let’s do it, it’s time to do that, various movements, neither scientific nor cultural nor geographical, started meddling. Here we want to loudly exclaim: “Where are you? You wept and said that Palmyra must be restored”,’ Shoigu clarified.
‘We are combing through our archives. We have uncovered photos of Palmyra taken in 1872 by the first Russian travellers who arrived there.
‘Now we are putting together an album in which we want to show what was there and what has been done.
‘This endeavour is needed to understand what to do next. For this, we are creating a 3D model of Palmyra. I believe soon,’ he added.
‘Maybe in a month or two, we will send these files to UNESCO so that they could assess the overall volume of restoration works,’ he stressed.
- The Syrian Arab army on Tuesday responded to breaches of the de-escalation zone agreement by terrorist organisations who tried to infiltrate and attack many military points in Hama northern countryside.
SANA reporter said that an army unit thwarted the terrorist group’s attempt to sneak from direction of Mourek town into military points in northern Hama.
Another army unit targeted Jabhat al-Nusra-linked terrorist groups in Bab al-Taqa town in al-Ghab plain in northern Hama, the reporter added.
A number of terrorists were killed and injured as their weapons and dens were destroyed.
On Monday, army units destroyed groups and vehicles for terrorists on the outskirts of villages of al-Hawiz, al-Hawija, Jiser al-Ras al-Tuwayneh and al-Sharia in the northern suburbs of Hama and on the eastern outskirts of Maaret al-Nu’man, Wadi Khuwair, Khan Shaykhoun, and Talmans in southern Idlib.
