DISINFO: New OPCW-report questions official findings about chemical attack in syrian Douma
SUMMARY
A new report written by an engineer from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) emerged. The report challenges the official OPCW report from March, which accused Damascus of being behind the Douma incident from last April. However, the new report now suggests that the gas canisters were placed by hand at the site of the attack, possibly by rebels active in the area. In the West, these revelations were virtually ignored. Several prominent activists criticised the mainstream media for their lack of coverage. In addition, the White Helmets operate exclusively in areas controlled by militants and are accused of cooperating with extremists and staging chemical attacks.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narratives deflecting blame for chemical attacks from the Assad regime; painting the White Helmets as cooperating with extremists; and aiming to discredit the OPCW. The "never-before-seen-report" appears to be an engineering assessment carried out by one individual who, contrary to RT Deutsch's false claim, was never a member of the Fact-Finding Mission and is not currently employed by the organisation. The individual, however, was affiliated with the OPCW as an engineer and apparently had access to materials gathered in the course of the Douma FFM, and based his/her conclusions on the same evidence pool. An OPCW press statement confirms that "all information was taken into account, deliberated, and weighed when formulating the final report regarding the incident in Douma." The OPCW Technical Secretariat is conducting an internal investigation about the unauthorised release of the document in question. Regardless of the leaked document's authenticity, its conclusion that the cylinders could not have been dropped from helicopters: a) has been addressed in the actual OPCW report on Douma (Annex 6, pp. 55-56); b) does not support the outlandish claim that the incident was staged "and designed to frame the Syrian government." The White Helmets have not once been "busted" staging anything, see our debunking on the subject for more details.