© AP Photo/ Rick Rycroft
"US security services are planning provocations with the use of prohibited substances in Syria. The operation is led by a former militant of the Islamic State *[Daesh], Mishan Idris Hamash. The aim is to stage a chemical attack against civilians to be further spread in the media," the source told Sputnik.Yes, this is a report from an anonymous source and has been belittled by the mainstream media in the West whose knee-jerk reaction to any information issued by a Russian media outlet is outright denigration and ridicule. However, the subsequent sequence of statements issued in relation to an alleged funding "freeze" for the U.S/UK White Helmet intelligence assets operating under their "regime change" coalition rules in Syria is worth remarking upon.
Among the first to publish the "U.S freezes funding for Syria's White Helmets" story was CBS News, describing the terrorist-affiliated group as "one of the most important humanitarian rescue groups in Syria". There was then a flurry of activity in corporate media and on social media with anti-war activists and journalists celebrating what appeared to be a change of heart from the Trump administration.
We should not, however, forget that on the 19th April US State Department spokesperson, Heather Nauert, had issued reassurances that wages would continue be paid to the White Helmets while the funding of the Syria stabilisation program was under "review":
Comment: More research by Vanessa Beeley on the White Helmets: