By Ammar Johmani
Russian media outlets and officials hastened to defend the al-Assad regime after it recently bombed the city of Zamalka and the town of Ein Tarma, in Damascus suburbs, with chlorine and poisonous substances. In their defense of al-Assad, Russian media and officials described the videos broadcasted by activists about this chemical attack as fabricated.
Maria Zakurova, the official spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, denied the Syrian regime used chemical weapons in the Eastern Ghouta in the suburbs of Damascus.
Zakurove posted a video of activist Alaa al-Ahmad, and the comment “The chemical scenario directors in Syria are preparing more misleading videos,” on her profile page on Facebook.
Speaking to Ammar Johmani, al-Ahmad said that it is his duty as a journalist in the Eastern Ghouta to communicate the images of events as they occur to the world. When the regime forces targeted Zamalka city and the town of Ein Tarma with chlorine gas poison, al-Ahmad filmed the neighborhood from inside a medical point in Zamalka. According to activists, 41 people were injured in the attack. Al-Ahmad documented some of the casualties, and the videos were broadcasted on the Syrian Revolution Network. Al-Ahmad said he was surprised when Zakhrova, the official spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, described him as “a Hollywood photographer.”
Al-Ahmad added that he took this as an initiative to comment on Zakhrova’s post on her personal Facebook account. He wrote that her talking about him is evidence of the Russians’ inability to defend the al-Assad regime which is violating all international laws.
Talking to Ammar Johmani, he added that “the Russians’ silence and their defense of the Syrian regime are the biggest evidence of the Russians’ participation in its crimes.”
“The Russians are trying to camouflage and cover up these crimes,” he said. “But the lenses and pens of activists will remain a thorn in the regime, its allies and supporters’ throats.”
Al-Ahmad, who works as a journalist for Human Voice and a reporter for the Syrian Revolution Network, was responsible for communicating the events occurring in the Eastern Ghouta using his camera and pen. He covered many of the battles that took place and those that are ongoing in the Eastern Ghouta. He said he captures images that demonstrate the revolutionary fighters steadfast on these fronts and stressed that he refused to leave with those who were evacuated to Idlib countryside because he wants to continue his mission. He said he will either be victorious or die a martyr.
Nasr al-Yousef, the media professional and the former presenter for the Russia Today channel, said that through her speech, Zakhrova wants to cast doubt on all the videos that were broadcasted and will be broadcasted about al-Assad’s crimes. He indicated that her comments are part of Moscow’s repeated and systematic efforts to cover up the regime’s crimes before the international community and the West in particular.
“All the Syrians, according to Zakhrova, are terrorists, and all that the al-Assad regime is doing is included under the framework of the war on terror according to the head in Moscow,” al-Yousef added.
Al-Yousef pointed out that “This desperate defense was launched as a backdrop to Trump’s threat to the head of the regime of the consequences of another chemical attack.” He indicated that Russia and America are playing a game of tug-of-war in Syria.
Al-Yousef explained that “Syria now represents the straw held by Russia to regain its weight on the international scene and impose itself as a force which cannot be excluded in reaching a solution for any issue, and it uses the Syrian card to get some concessions in the Ukrainian case
