Moscow:

Unlike US-Led Coalition, Russia Not Hitting Civilian Homes in Syria with Incendiary Bombs

TEHRAN (defapress)- Russia’s Defense Ministry said Russian Air Forces are not carrying out airstrikes on residential areas in Eastern Ghouta and don’t use incendiary bombs, refuting reports by Syrian pro-opposition activists as “glaring falsehoods”.

News ID: 69356

Date: 24 March 2018 - 12:05

“Russian aviation doesn’t strike residential areas in Eastern Ghouta and, moreover, it doesn’t use incendiary ammunition, unlike the US-led international coalition,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement, RT reported.

The damning reports by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the White Helmets group are a “glaring falsehood,” it added, calling the two groups “swindlers” who are taking advantage of the sorrow of the Syrian people.

Earlier, the UK-based Observatory claimed that “Russian air strikes and incendiary weapons killed the civilians in a basement from burning or suffocation” in Arbin town in Eastern Ghouta on Thursday. The controversial “humanitarian” group White Helmets has released the footage of what it said was the aftermath of a Russian airstrike.

The civilians fleeing Eastern Ghouta through humanitarian corridors say that the White Helmets were only operating in the areas controlled by Al-Nusra terrorist group and never provided any assistance to the population, the Defense Ministry said, adding that “The same is confirmed by the representatives of the armed opposition, who made a decision to leave Eastern Ghouta for the Idlib de-escalation zone".

“Taking these facts into account, the blind readiness of some European media to report any false information with reference to the White Helmets once again causes our bewilderment,” the Ministry stated.

The internationally-funded White Helmets have long been hailed as heroes by the mainstream western media, with a Netflix documentary that praised them as “unarmed and neutral civilian volunteers” even winning an Oscar. However, the group has also been plagued by allegations of having ties with terrorists and producing fake reports. The humanitarian activists were filmed carrying weapons and sporting military uniforms, with Syrians accusing them of stealing valuables from the injured, of pillaging and other criminal acts.

While Russia is blamed for airstrikes on Eastern Ghouta, the militants holed up in the Damascus suburb continue daily shellings of the Syrian capital.