Photos of ‘staged’ Syria strikes are from movie set

PARIS: Photographs which claim to show Syrian volunteer rescue workers, known as the White Helmets, staging a chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta were actually taken from a film set, according to Factuel, an AFP fact-checking blog.

The White Helmets, a humanitarian organisation made up of some 3,000 volunteers, has regularly been the target of disinformation campaigns by the Syrian regime and conspiracy theorists online.

The photos — which show actors covered in dust, with bloody makeup and a clapper board — were presented by supporters of Bashar al-assad as proof that the alleged chlorine and sarin gas attack in the rebelheld town of Douma on April 7 was fake.

But the photos come from the set of a Syrian film called Revolution Man, supported by the Syrian culture ministry, and were published in February on a Facebook page devoted to the movie.

The film’s premiere was also reported by the official Syrian news agency SANA on March 9 — a month before the alleged chemical attack.

According to SANA, the film tells the story of a journalist in search of fame “who illegally enters Syria to take pictures and videos of the war”.

After failing to achieve his goal, he “fabricates a chemical attack to give his photos a global impact”, the agency said.

The investigative site Bellingcat reported the pictures were also shared by the Russian public channel Russia 1, which