 Complete the following phrase:  Oz Katerji wrote in Haaretz in July 2017, that virtually any group that speaks out on the Assad regimes campaign of systematic slaughter have been targeted by this coterie, consisting of Blumenthal, Gareth Porter, Ben Norton and Rania Khalek with the express intention of defending a regime guilty of human extermination. Far from being anti-war, they are acting as full-time advocates for Russian and Iranian military imperialism in Syria and to provide them immunity in the American public square from war crimes charges. Gershom Gorenberg wrote on October 14, 2016 for The American Prospect that Blumenthals concern for Arab lives and rights seems to vanish once he locates the Assad regime as an opponent of American hegemony. In separate articles, Charles Davis and Oz Katerji wrote that, in January 2017, following claims made by the Syrian government, Blumenthal blamed the contamination of the water supply for Damascus in the Wadi Barada valley on militants opposed to the government. A subsequent report by the UN found that Syrias air force deliberately bombed water sources in December 2016, a war crime that cut off water to 5.5 million people in and around the capital Damascus. He tweeted in April 2018 that every time government forces liberate a rebel held area those opponents of Assad allege a chemical attack. Around the same time, Blumenthal told Sky News Australia that it was quite probable the Syrian rebels were responsible for the 