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Russian embassy: White Helmets exit from Syria curbs risks of staged chemical attack ops

Damascus believes that the White Helmets are linked to the Jabhat al-Nusra terror organization

TEL AVIV, July 23. /TASS/. The evacuation of hundreds of White Helmets members from Syria has reduced the risk that the organization will stage new chemical weapons provocations in the country, the Russian embassy in Israel said on Twitter on Monday.

"Yesterday 442 White Helmets militants and their family members were evacuated from South-West Syria. At least there is one positive consequence. A chance that White Helmets will use chlorine in order to stage a chemical provocation in South-West Syria has decreased," the tweet reads.

On Sunday, Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said on Twitter that Israel had evacuated White Helmets members and their families from Syria at the request of the US, Canada and some European countries. Israel’s Galei Tzahal radio station said that 800 people had been taken to Jordan from southern Syria, where government forces continued an operation against opposition units.

Damascus believes that the White Helmets are linked to the Jabhat al-Nusra terror organization (outlawed in Russia) and act in its interests.

The United States has been funding the White Helmets since 2013, to the tune of $33 mln.