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From the West/NATO point of view the white helmets are heroes who saved an astounding number of lives (100 000). And according to them, they were bullied and bombarded by Syria/Russia forces.

But according to Russia/Syria, they are linked to terrorists and propaganda materials.

White Helmets member caught on camera disposing of Syrian soldiers’ mutilated bodies

'Massive evidence foreign-funded White Helmets support terrorist entities in Syria'

Syrian White Helmets a ‘terrorist support group & Western propaganda tool’

Is there any definitive evidence they were the heroes we have seen in the media? Or are they war propaganda?

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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it belongs on Skeptics.SE and is not about governments,policies or political processes
    – SleepingGod
    Commented Oct 9, 2017 at 12:07
  • @xrorox: Quite possibly both. Remember nobody operates in Idlibistan without Islamist rebel militia approval and coordination. No media, no international NGOs (or almost none; I might have missed sonething) - so you can only get the coverage they want you to get. And they don't operate anywhere in Syria - neither in regime-controlled areas nor in Rojava. So, what I'm saying is you can't know and there's evidence for both the legitimate and illegitimate aspects of their activity.
    – einpoklum
    Commented Oct 9, 2017 at 12:38
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    @xrorox : thanks for the advice, I'll try not to be silly. I'm not sure it is the right place to discuss the quality of different media, but 1. No, UN doesn't accuse Syrian rebels of bombing Ghouta with Sarin Gas. 2. Beside avoiding possible bias, there are a lot of good practices that most serious media (not only western...) apply and RT doesn't even try to: diversity of sources, financial independance, publishing corrections when proven wrong, separation between articles (about facts) and tribunes (about opinions)...
    – Evargalo
    Commented Oct 9, 2017 at 13:34
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    I'm desperately looking how to start a forum item or a private discusssion, but cannot find it. Your statement from C. Del Ponte is from 2013, a few days after the attack itself. A UN commission has been formed since, a lot of proof has been collected since about the Ghouta attack, and there is no doubt left (if there have ever been...) that the Syrian Army is the culprit.
    – Evargalo
    Commented Oct 9, 2017 at 15:04
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    Is there any definitive evidence they were the heroes we have seen in the media? Or are they war propaganda? They are war propaganda, because they are pictured as the heroes in the media. This is the most definitive evidence one can imagine.
    – Matt
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 14:43

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The assertion that the White Helmets are linked to terrorists and propaganda materials would be propaganda according to Wikipedia, citing:

  • Snopes, which rates it as unproven.
  • The Conversation, which dismisses it as the product of disinformation and spurious inference - citing this TwitLonger.
  • Pulse, which dismisses it as Russia and Syria documenting their own crimes.
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