Russian Misinformation About 'Imminent' White Helmets Chemical Attack Could Spell Start of Idlib Seige by Josie Ensor - The Telegraph
On the morning of Saturday August 25, the Russian ministry of defence put out a press release.
It made explosive claims that they had intelligence Syrian rebel forces were about to gas their own people in Idlib province - their last stronghold - as part of a “false flag” operation to frame the Syrian government.
By the end of the day, the accusations had been tweeted out by half a dozen Russian embassy accounts, spread by a network of Kremlin-owned and funded media outlets and shared by hundreds of conspiracy theorists and supporters of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president.
It appeared to be Moscow’s latest misinformation campaign, a tactic it has used several times since it intervened in the war on behalf of Assad in 2015 and one that follows a familiar formula.
The defence ministry first claimed opposition fighters trained by British “specialists” from security firm Olive Group were preparing to conduct a possible attack, which was to be filmed by White Helmets civil defence rescuers.
Over the next few days the accusations would become more specific, and more outlandish. They would claim the White Helmets had kidnapped children to use as actors in the imminent chemical attack in the town of Kafr Zita.
It said the attack would serve as a pretext for Britain, the US and France to launch air strikes against Assad’s forces, which they have warned they will do in the event of another chemical attack.
But the US has shown little appetite for taking forceful military action against the government.
Analysts including Charles Lister from the Middle East Institute and Eliot Higgins from Bellingcat, a UK-based investigative website, also pointed out that Moscow had offered no evidence to back up the claims and that Olive Group ceased to exist in 2015 following a merger with Constellis group.
“When your conspiracy theories are based on years-old labels, you undermine your credibility, just a little bit,” Mr Lister tweeted…