An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube by the Arbeen unified press office on August 21, 2013 shows a man comforting a Syrian girl in shock as she screams in Arabic "I am alive" following an attack in which Syrian opposition claim the regime used chemical weapons in eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus.

There is proof the footage of the alleged chemical attack in Syria was fabricated, Mother Agnes Mariam el-Salib, mother superior of St. James Monastery in Qara, Syria, told RT. She says she is about to submit her findings to the UN.

Mother Agnes, a catholic nun, who has been living in Syria for 20  years and has been reporting actively on what has been going on  in the war-ravaged country, says she carefully studied the video  featuring allegedly victims of the chemical weapons attack in the  Syrian village of Guta in August and now questions its authenticity. 

In her interview with RT, Mother Agnes doubts so much footage  could have been taken in so little time, and asks where parents  of the supposedly dead children are. She promises to send her  report to the UN. 

The nun is indignant with the world media for apparently turning  a blind eye to the Latakia massacre by rebel extremists, which  left 500 civilians including women and children dead.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has called on the international  community to pay attention to revelations made by Mother Agnes  Mariam el-Salib. 

Mother Agnes Mariam el-Salib

RT: The United States has used internet photos and  video footage of the supposed chemical weapons attack in Eastern  Guta to build a case against the Syrian government. Have you been  able to look at these files? What do you have to say about  them?

Mother Agnes: I have carefully studied the footage, and I  will present a written analysis on it a bit later. I maintain  that the whole affair was a frame-up. It had been staged and  prepared in advance with the goal of framing the Syrian  government as the perpetrator. 

The key evidence is that Reuters made these files public at 6.05  in the morning. The chemical attack is said to have been launched  between 3 and 5 o’clock in the morning in Guta. How is it even  possible to collect a dozen different pieces of footage, get more  than 200 kids and 300 young people together in one place, give  them first aid and interview them on camera, and all that in less  than three hours? Is that realistic at all? As someone who works  in the news industry, you know how long all of it would take.

The bodies of children and teenagers we see in that footage – who  were they? What happened to them? Were they killed for real? And  how could that happen ahead of the gas attack? Or, if they were  not killed, where did they come from? Where are their parents?  How come we don’t see any female bodies among all those  supposedly dead children? 

I am not saying that no chemical agent was used in the area – it  certainly was. But I insist that the footage that is now being  peddled as evidence had been fabricated in advance. I have  studied it meticulously, and I will submit my report to the UN  Human Rights Commission based in Geneva.

RT: Recently you’ve visited Latakia and the adjacent  areas, you’ve talked to the eyewitnesses to the massacre of  civilians carried out in Latakia by Jabhat al-Nusra. What can you  tell us about it?   

Mother Agnes: What I want to ask first of all is how the  international community can ignore the brutal killing spree in  Latakia on Laylat al-Qadr early in the morning of August 5, an  attack that affected more than 500 people, including children,  women and the elderly. They were all slaughtered. The atrocities  committed exceed any scale. But there was close to nothing about  it in the international mass media. There was only one small  article in “The Independent”, I believe. 

We sent our delegation to these villages, and our people had a  look at the situation on-site, talked to the locals, and most  importantly – talked to the survivors of the massacre. 

I don’t understand why the Western media apply double standards  in this case – they talk about mass murder that the use of  chemical weapons resulted in non-stop, but they keep quiet about  the Latakia massacre.
 

A handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on August 20, 2013 shows soldiers loyal to the regime forces wrapping a decomposed body that was allegedly discovered in a mass grave in northern Latakia, a province on the Mediterranean coast

RT: Do you know anything about the fate of hostages  captured in Latakia?

Mother Agnes: In the village of Estreba they massacred all the  residents and burnt down their houses. In the village of  al-Khratta almost all the 37 locals were killed. Only ten people  were able to escape. 

A total of twelve Alawite villages were subjected to this  horrendous attack. That was a true slaughterhouse. People were  mutilated and beheaded. There is even a video that shows a girl  being dismembered alive – alive! – by a frame saw. The final  death toll exceeded 400, with 150 to 200 people taken hostage.  Later some of the hostages were killed, their deaths  filmed. 

At the moment we are looking for the hostages and negotiating  their release with the militants, but so far we haven’t managed  to achieve that.  

RT: We often hear reports of Christians being  persecuted by the militants. Just the day before yesterday there  was an attack in the village of Maaloula, where the majority of  population is Christian. Are Christians in Syria facing grave  danger?  

Mother Agnes: Everyone in Syria is facing grave danger. There was a  case of Muslim religious leaders being kidnapped and beheaded.  They were humiliated and tortured. Ismailis, the druze,  Christians – people from all parts of Syrian society – are being  mass murdered. I would like to say that if these butchers didn’t  have international support, no one would have dared to cross the  line. But today, unfortunately, the violation of human rights and  genocide in Syria is covered up on the international level. I  demand the international community stops assessing the situation  in Syria in accordance with the interests of a certain group of  great powers. The Syrian people are being killed. They fall  victim to contractors, who are provided with weapons and sent to  Syria to kill as many people as possible. The truth is,  everywhere in Syria people are being kidnapped, tortured, raped  and robbed. These crimes remain unpunished, because the key  powers chose international terrorism as a way to destroy  sovereign states. They’ve done it to other countries. And they  will just keep doing it if the international community doesn’t  say “Enough!”

RT: You’ve managed to get hold of some sensitive  information. Does this make you fear for your life as someone who  keeps documents that may compromise the militants? Has anyone  threatened you?  

Mother Agnes: You are right. I do get threatened. They are trying to  discredit me. I know there is a book coming out soon in France  that labels me as a criminal who kills people. But any believer  should first and foremost trust their conscience, their belief in  God, and that will help them save innocent lives. I don’t care  much about my own life. My life is no more precious than that of  any Syrian child, whose body could be used as evidence to justify  wrongdoing. This is the biggest crime ever perpetrated in  history.

 

RT: What should the Syrians do to stop the tragedy they  are going through?  

Mother Agnes: The Syrians themselves can do nothing to stop it. They  can only rely on the international community, friendly nations,  world powers, such as Russia, China, and India. With a lot of  enthusiasm we did welcome the news that the British parliament  voted against the participation of their country in the possible  war against Syria. There is a terrorist war going on against  Syria right now. The international community and Syria’s friends  should join forces and say: Enough! And they need to use every  opportunity to do that. Otherwise this threat Syria is facing now  will turn into a threat to universal peace.

RT: What should the Vatican and other hubs of  Christianity do to put an end to this tragedy?  

Mother Agnes: The Pope says he has no planes, no bombs, and no armed  forces. Instead, he has the power of the truth, and the truth he  has told. There are messages coming from everywhere in the world  urging against a military intervention in Syria. Those who want  to hear them will. The Pope, the patriarchs, Nobel Prize winners,  including women, keep saying the same in unison: Let’s stop  fighting. No conflict can be solved by military means. Stop  adding fuel to the flame!     All the prominent public figures in the world have risen to speak  against the war. Everyone has spoken their mind, but the US  prefers to turn a deaf ear. The world public opinion has turned  against the US. It’s the first time in history that America is  alone. They are claiming that they are backed by ten countries.  But I insist they aren’t, because the people of these countries  disagree with their governments. Even the American people  disagree with their government.  

RT: Do you believe that this tragedy will end and Syria  will remain a homeland for all Syrians, regardless of their  ethnical or religious identity?  

Mother Agnes: I’m not Syrian myself, but I’ve been living in Syria  for 20 years. I’d like to remind everyone that Damascus is the  most ancient capital in the world. I would like to remind  everyone that Syria is the cradle of civilization. I would like  to remind everyone that this is the holy land that gave birth to  the main world religions. What is happening in Syria should serve  as a lesson for everyone. I mean that in existential rather than  political sense. I am convinced that with God’s help the Syrian  people will be able to remain strong, heal their wounds,  reconcile and chase out all the foreign mercenaries and  terrorists. I believe there will be peace in Syria. But for that  we need help from the international community.  

SOURCE: RT