UK government secretly running aid campaign to counter threat of terrorism

The UK government has been found to be running a covert humanitarian campaign to funnel aid to Syrian refugees while secretly using the organisation as a counter-radicalisation scheme, the Guardian newspaper revealed yesterday.

Leaked papers obtained by the paper appear to show that Help for Syria, which was set up as an independent campaign to provide shelter, water and education to Syrians who have fled their homes during the civil war, had been targeting Britons who want to help fellow Muslims suffering in the war.

The campaign had been promoted in universities in the hopes that it would encourage British Muslims into becoming involved in UK-based charities instead of travelling to Syria to join the jihad or become an aid worker.

Help for Syria styles itself as an “online resource providing advice and guidance for anyone who wants to raise money and aid for Syria”.

According to the leaked documents, Help for Syria was designed and delivered by a commercial contractor, Breakthrough Media Network, at the behest of the government’s propaganda arm, the Research Information and Communications Unit (Ricu).